LAND USE

Land use involves the management and modification of natural

environment or wilderness into built environment such as settlements and semi-natural
habitats such as arable fields, pastures, and managed woods. It also has been defined as "the
total of arrangements, activities, and inputs that people undertake in a certain land
cover type."

REGULATION

Land Use practices vary considerably across the world. The United Nations' Food and Agriculture
OrganizationWater Development Division explains that "Land use concerns the products and/or
benefits obtained from use of the land as well as the land management actions (activities)
carried out by humans to produce those products and benefits."[2] As of the early 1990s, about
13% of the Earth was considered arable land, with 26% in pasture, 32% forests and woodland,
and 1.5% urban areas.
As Albert Guttenberg (1959) wrote many years ago, "'Land use' is a key term in the language
of city planning."[3] Commonly, political jurisdictions will undertake land-use
planning and regulate the use of land in an attempt to avoid land-use conflicts. Land use plans
are implemented through land division and use ordinances and regulations, such as zoning
regulations.Management consulting firms and non-governmental organizations will frequently
seek to influence these regulations before they are codified.

URBAN GROWTH BOUNDARIES

The urban growth boundary is one form of land-use regulation. For example, Portland, Oregon is
required to have an urban growth boundary which contains at least 20,000 acres (81 km2) of
vacant land. Additionally, Oregon restricts the development of farmland. The regulations are
controversial, but an economic analysis concluded that farmland appreciated similarly to the
other land.

DISTANCE AND RURAL LAND USES

As established in the previous

lesson, von Thünen’s concentric
circles were the result of the
limits he imposed on his model in
order to remove all influences
except for distance. Once
real-world influences are allowed
to invade the model, the concentric
land-use pattern does not remain in
place. Modern technology, such as
advances in transportation systems,
increasingly complicates the basic
concentric circle model. Recent
changes in the nature of demand for
agricultural products also
influence land-use patterns.

COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE

Ricardo’s classic land-use theory describes the concept of comparative advantage as a

relatively static phenomenon that is the result of natural features such as climate, populations,
topography, soils, raw materials, and location. In general, a place is said to have a comparative
advantage in production when it can produce a given product more efficiently and thus less
expensively than other locations. Many agricultural regions can produce a multiplicity of crops,
but they normally tend to focus only on those crops that will bring the greatest profits. It
is because of comparative advantage that regions specialize in the production of particular
crops and manufactured goods. It makes good economic sense to do this because each region can
maximize production and profits at lower costs, thereby making everyone involved better off.

In more recent times, geographers have modified Ricardo’s concept of comparative advantage
to include variables such as managerial skills, patterns of public investment (e.g., government
investment in infrastructure), and political stability. Therefore, it is now a far more dynamic
analytical tool. Additionally, geographers now understand that it is possible to create
comparative advantage. For example, a community may decide to improve its transportation network
thereby increasing its accessibility. In fact, public decisions about infrastructure, corporate
taxes, the quality of schools, and so on, often create a locational comparative advantage over
other communities. If a community wants to attract environmentally clean industries such as
an insurance company headquarters in order to create upper-level white-collar jobs, it would
probably focus on developing good schools, encourage the creation of shopping malls, and engage
in land-use planning activities that encourage the development of safe middle-class
neighborhoods. It would also try to do everything possible to hold down taxes and minimize
crime.

URBAN PATTERNS

The lion’s share of rural land-use theory revolves around market mechanisms and competition
between various potential users of land. Geographers also applied these factors when attempting
to identify the forces that influence urban land use decisions. Therefore, these approaches
build directly upon the models discussed above. Moreover, other models have also been developed
that focus on human behavior and the decision-making processes of urban populations.

A BASIC URBAN LAND-USE MODEL

In similar fashion to Von Thünen’s Rural Land-Use Model, a basic urban land-use model focuses
on a single market center which is the point of minimum aggregate travel costs for the urban
area.

According to this model, all urban land users would like to locate in close proximity to the
city center, but only a few
activities can actually justify the
cost of such a location. According to
the model, banks can afford to locate
in the city center whereas wholesale
houses cannot. If there is but one
market in the center of the urban
place, and if all other possible
variables are held constant,
everyone will seek to locate as close
to the city center as possible
because it is the location of minimum
aggregate travel costs. Given this
model, it easy to understand that
retail operations are normally best able to justify locating in the downtown area, whereas
manufacturers must locate a few miles away from the center. This is because a downtown location
benefits retailers more than manufacturers. Notice in the graphic above that residential costs
decrease with the distance from the city center. In cities with good mass-transportation systems,
the costs of commuting may not be a significant factor. Conversely, in places where it is
necessary to drive to the city center in order to go to work, living in the suburbs may be
difficult. Keep in mind, however, that this model does not take into account the creation of
the satellite city centers established with the construction of shopping malls. Therefore,
although this model is based on the desirability of a central downtown business district, changes
in the structure of modern cities make adjustments necessary. We will consider these modification
in subsequent paragraphs.
https://www.e-education.psu.edu/geog597i_02/node/517

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_use