Preface

Land use planning affects every aspect of life in all contemporary societies. It helps determine where and how homes, factories, parks, hospitals, schools, roads, sewers, and other essential services are located in our communities. Strong market forces as well as individual and societal values play a major role in decisions regarding types and intensity of land uses. Faced with complex land use planning problems around the globe, we turned to specialists who have successfully undertaken empirical studies and analysis of rural and urban planning problems to share their experiences in this book. The biographies of those whose chapters comprise this book indicate they are singularly qualified for this task.

Chapter 1 by Mohsen Armin discusses agricultural land preservation plans and laws in Iran. The chapter argues that deterrence is not an effective solution to agricultural land management problems; it is necessary to include incentive and punitive aspects in a comprehensive land management plan. The chapter goes on to suggest land monitoring and evaluation system and the granting of credit facilities to qualified people could help preserve agricultural lands in Iran.

Chapter 2 by Mohammad Rahim Rahnama discusses how a multiple-objective land allocation model (MOLA) is used to simulate the location of residential and industrial lands in Sarakh city, Iran. To a large extent, the result was in line with the projected development direction in the city's master plan. The chapter concludes that the MOLA model is a better approach to simulating urban growth due to its high speed, accuracy, and low-cost compared to traditional methods of preparing master plans in similar cities in developing countries.

Chapter 3 by Issaka Kanton Osumanu discusses the implementation and management of urban land use plans in Ghana. The chapter argues that towns and cities need land use plans to direct and promote their growth in an organized manner. Based on a systematic review of existing literature and personal observations, the chapter reveals that urban planning in Ghana has adopted a three-tier land use planning model that considers spatial planning at various sub-state levels. It concludes that urban land use plan implementation and management in the country are thwarted by slow, cumbersome, and unending land delivery processes, as well as weak public participation, obsolete land use policies and methods, and insufficient human and financial resources.

Chapter 4 by Dejene Tesema Bulti and Anteneh Lemmi Eshete discusses the effects of urbanization and the quantitative methods for analyzing urban expansion. The chapter argues that the choice of a particular method depends on several factors, making it difficult for users to make informed decisions. Given the importance of analyzing the spatiotemporal growth of built-up areas for sustainable urbanization, the chapter provides a good insight into the main features of the existing methods that are used by urban planners.

Finally, Chapter 5 by Mehdi Sarparast and Maryam Niknejad discusses the links between land use changes and policy decisions in northeastern Iran. The chapter argues that most of the land degradation in the region is the result of erroneous and unscientific policies that may be beneficial in the short term but have long-term negative impacts on human societies and the environment. A simple analytical framework is used to capture the driving forces of land use changes, pressures, state of affairs, responses, and impacts (DPSIR framework).

As pointed out in my previous edited volumes in this series, this book must be seen as a wide brush stroke pointing the way to matters regarding contemporary land use planning problems because the case studies are limited in scope and do not cover every important issue in the discipline. Nevertheless, it is insightful, thought-provoking, concise, and easy to understand. It is an important reference material on similar contemporary land use planning issues in the developing world.

> **Seth Appiah-Opoku, Ph.D., AICP** Professor, Member, American Institute of Certified Planners, Geography Department, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, USA

> > **1**

Section 1

Rural Land Use Planning

Section 1
