Thresholds of landscape change a new tool to mana

Authors: Wenping Liu Jirko Holst Zhenrong Yu

Publish Date: 2014/03/02

Volume: 29, Issue: 4, Pages: 729-743

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Abstract

An understanding of how and where a landscape can be improved with green infrastructure is important for the development of landuse policies However it is still a big challenge to manage landscapes due to a lack of conditionbased diagnosis and consistent conflicts with social–economic interests The purpose of this study is to identify the thresholds of landscape change and to explore new reference lines of policy decisionmaking for balancing social–economic development and green infrastructure management Five different landscape types and their thresholds of landscape change were identified using parametric and piecewise linear models in the district of Haidian Beijing PR China and their changes and social–economic drivers were analyzed with principal component analysis and a stepwise linear regression model for the time period 1991–2010 It is shown that different thresholds of different landscapes do exist and can be identified by the area of their key elements of green infrastructure Integrating these thresholds into a social–economic context it is shown where and how social–economic variables can be manipulated quantitatively to achieve development targets with respect to green infrastructure in individual towns and the entire district Green infrastructure can be managed by changing just a small proportion of social–economic investment This paper provides a useful tool to achieve a sustainable development by balancing green infrastructure with social–economic interests

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