Land Suitability Evaluation and an Interval Stochastic Fuzzy Programming-Based Optimization Model for Land-Use Planning and Environmental Policy Analysis

Abstract

People explosion and fast economic growth are bringing a more serious land resource shortage crisis. Rational land-use allocation can effectively reduce this burden. Existing land-use allocation models may deal with a lot of challenges of land-use planning. This study proposed a hybrid quantitative and spatial optimization land-use allocation model that could enrich the land-use allocation method system. This model has three advantages compared to former methods: (1) this model can simultaneously solve the quantitative land area optimization problem and spatial allocation problem, which are the two core aspects of land-use allocation; (2) the land suitability assessment method considers various geographical, economic and environmental factors which are essential to land-use allocation; (3) this model used an interval stochastic fuzzy programming land-use allocation model to solve the quantitative land area optimization problem. This model not only considers three uncertainties in the natural system but also involves various economic, social, ecological and environmental constraints—most of which are specifically put into the optimization process. The proposed model has been applied to a real case study in Liannan county, Guangdong province, China. The results could help land managers and decision makers to conduct sound land-use planning/policy and could help scientists understand the inner contradiction among economic development, environmental protection, and land use.