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A special issue of Land (ISSN 2073-445X).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2021) | Viewed by 33472

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Krystyna Kurowska

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Guest Editor

University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Department of Spatial Analysis and Real Estate Market, Prawocheńskiego 15, 10-720 Olsztyn, Poland
Interests: rural areas; sustainability; spatial planning; land use change; land use modelling; environmental analysis; urbanization

Dr. Cezary Kowalczyk

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Guest Editor

University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Department of Spatial Analysis and Real Estate Market, Prawocheńskiego 15, 10-720 Olsztyn, Poland
Interests: urban analysis; land use/cover change; land use modelling; statistical approaches; real estate market

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Rural areas play a very important role in social life and the economy. They provide residence and employment as well as recreational sites enabling visitors to enjoy unspoiled nature. Rural areas not only supply raw materials and products, but they also provide space for other functions. Spatial planning plays a very important role in the process of rural space modelling. It is also important to study the local and external conditions. A rural development framework can be proposed based on an evaluation of the observed phenomena. The following list provides some examples of topics of interest to ensure the consistency of the papers in this Special Issue:

- Spatial planning;
- Spatial order;
- Institutional efficiency;
- Spatial, financial, and environmental effects of planning studies;
- Urbanization of rural areas;
- Town–village relationships;
- Social, cultural, economic, environmental, and spatial aspects of rural development.

Dynamically growing new technologies (e.g., multi-criteria methods, GIS tools) are gaining popularity all over the world as tools for spatial analysis. This Special Issue focuses on the practice and theory of the application of modern technologies in rural space modelling and rural area development planning.

Authors are invited to submit papers on modern research directions of rural space modelling in such domains as spatial planning, spatial order, spatiotemporal analysis, land use change, or environmental aspects, etc. The integration of different data, GIS tools, and modelling can provide valuable support to rural space modelling and decision-making.

Papers incorporating novel and interesting techniques in studying these aspects, as well as some interesting applications, will be considered. Well-prepared review papers are also welcome. We invite all prospective authors to share their research.

Dr. Krystyna Kurowska
Dr. Cezary Kowalczyk
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Land is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

rural areas
land use change
spatial planning
spatial order
urbanization
environmental protection
aspects of rural development

Published Papers (11 papers)

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Editorial

Jump to: Research, Review

5 pages, 477 KiB

Open AccessEditorial

Rural Space Modeling—Contemporary Challenges

by Krystyna Kurowska and Cezary Kowalczyk

Land 2022, 11(2), 173; https://doi.org/10.3390/land11020173 - 21 Jan 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2222

Abstract

Rural areas feature mainly agricultural land and forests, and they are often referred to as non-urbanized areas whose spatial uniqueness can be credited to the planners’ imagination, environmental and esthetic sensitivity, and environmental awareness [...] Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Rural Space Modeling)

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Research

Jump to: Editorial, Review

30 pages, 2980 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Attractiveness of Central Public Spaces in Small Polish Towns Based on a Spatial Order Analysis

by Wioletta Kamińska and Mirosław Mularczyk

Land 2021, 10(12), 1327; https://doi.org/10.3390/land10121327 - 02 Dec 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2657

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to evaluate the attractiveness of centrally located public spaces (main squares) in select new small towns in Poland. The evaluation was conducted from the spatial order perspective. Spatial order is composed of five elements: architectural and urban planning, functional, aesthetic, social, and “green” orders. The new small towns included in this analysis are settlement units, which in 2020 were populated by up to 20,000 inhabitants and received municipal rights in the 21st century. We used the point bonitation method in our research based on the source material collected during a field study. A total of 286 inventory cards of buildings and nine cards of town squares were compiled. The analysis demonstrated that the main squares in the towns studied are characterised by low or average levels of attractiveness from the spatial order perspective. The architectural–urban planning order in the towns in question was related to the number of inhabitants as well as the period over which a given settlement unit had municipal rights. A larger number of inhabitants had a positive influence on the functional diversification of the central squares and their development, whereas a small number limited both the functional diversification and the number of small architectural elements found at the square. The social order in the given towns was not connected to the number of inhabitants. The elements of social order were assessed favourably, both in larger towns that revitalised their central squares and in smaller settlements. The aesthetic and green orders were strongly related to the revitalisation of public space. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Rural Space Modeling)

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14 pages, 1087 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Regional Spatial Approach to Differences in Rural Economic Development: Insights from Serbia

by Žana Jurjević, Stanislav Zekić, Danilo Đokić and Bojan Matkovski

Land 2021, 10(11), 1211; https://doi.org/10.3390/land10111211 - 08 Nov 2021

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2220

Abstract

Rural regions with a larger share of the primary sector in the overall economy are limited in their ability to achieve a sufficient level of competitiveness. In countries such as Serbia, where rural areas play an important role, addressing the problems affecting these areas is important for overall development. The purpose of this study is to determine the socioeconomic performance of the rural regions of Serbia and the EU in order to indicate the position of Serbia’s rural areas in the process of European integration. NUTS 3 (NUTS 2 for Germany) was used for analysis, and from this an Index of Socioeconomic Performance was created. This Index was created using Factor Analysis. The results point to Serbia lagging behind other EU regions in terms of development, with most of Serbia’s rural regions receiving the lowest ratings. These results are cause for alarm and indicate a need to create strategies that will direct resources towards key issues in these areas, whose potential would be adequately used through the implementation of rural policy measures, with the aim of overall socioeconomic development. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Rural Space Modeling)

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11 pages, 1326 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Profile of a Modern Hunter and the Socio-Economic Significance of Hunting in Poland as Compared to European Data

by Krzysztof Kupren and Anna Hakuć-Błażowska

Land 2021, 10(11), 1178; https://doi.org/10.3390/land10111178 - 03 Nov 2021

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2750

Abstract

Hunting is a unique form of activity in rural areas with a high proportion of forest areas, which involves nature conservation and meets social needs for recreation and the preservation of traditions while being an important part of economic activity. The presented study results, based on a literature review and questionnaire surveys conducted among hunters associated in hunting clubs in the north-eastern part of Poland, provide the basis for a discussion on the socio-economic significance of hunting, both in the country and throughout the European continent. Based on the results presented in the paper, it can be concluded that the number and density of hunters differ in individual countries. Moreover, hunting is practised in Europe by almost 7 million people, of which 127,000 are in Poland, and is a typical male activity. Most hunters in Poland and other European countries are professionally active inhabitants of rural areas, aged approximately 50 years, with several years of shooting experience and an income exceeding average values. Hunting is an important part of socio-economic activities, particularly in rural areas. It is estimated that in the EU alone, hunting can be worth approximately EUR 16 billion, and creates 100–120 thousand jobs. The most recent results of studies conducted in certain EU countries and the wide range of services provided by the hunting sector indicate that these values may be considerably higher. Regarding Poland, despite the centralised game resource management system, there are no extensive studies of the economic significance of hunting, and the official data are limited to a few basic indices related to hunting statistics. As indicated by the study results presented in this paper, in Poland, hunting-related expenditures are clearly lower than the European average and, thus, the economic significance of hunting is relatively low in this country. Despite this, it is a hunting community that, as a result of the adopted system solutions, is responsible for the functioning of reasonable game management while significantly affecting the management of the vast majority of rural areas. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Rural Space Modeling)

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19 pages, 4798 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Practical Village Planning Strategy of Different Types of Villages—A Case Study of 38 Villages in Shapingba District, Chongqing

by Jing Chen, Cheng Wang, Ruilian Dai, Shuang Xu, Yue Shen and Mengzhu Ji

Land 2021, 10(11), 1143; https://doi.org/10.3390/land10111143 - 27 Oct 2021

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 4880

Abstract

Practical village planning is not only an important guide for implementing the rural revitalization strategy but also an important support for building a sustainable rural development model. The scientific measurement of rural development potential to effectively identify the future development direction and mode of rural areas is of great significance to realize the implementation of “hierarchical and key points” of village planning. Taking 38 villages in Shapingba District of Chongqing as the study area, this study comprehensively measures the rural development potential from four dimensions: location advantage, resource endowment, economic vitality, and development constraint. Results reveal the following: (1) the spatial distribution pattern of rural development potential in the study area is centered on the central and southern urban development area, gradually decreasing toward the peripheral area. The village development potential tends to be balanced overall, but differences are observed in advantage and development obstacles of villages in the district, and the four sub-dimensions show a large spatial heterogeneity;(2) the 38 administrative villages were divided into four types, namely, core planning area, important planning area, general planning area, and basic control area. Their percentages were 13.16%, 52.63%, 23.68%, and 10.53%, respectively; (3) differentiated planning contents and strategies for different types of areas are adopted to prepare well-detailed and clearly focused village plans to promote sustainable rural development. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Rural Space Modeling)

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19 pages, 6141 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Spatial Typography of Environmentally Friendly Common Agricultural Policy Support Relevant to European Green Deal Objectives

by Roman Rudnicki, Łukasz Wiśniewski and Mirosław Biczkowski

Land 2021, 10(10), 1092; https://doi.org/10.3390/land10101092 - 15 Oct 2021

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 1759

Abstract

The European Union (EU), through its implementation of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), is increasingly emphasising the development of environmentally friendly forms of agriculture. This is confirmed by, for example, the new European Green Deal (EGD). In Poland, the most important forms of CAP support for the environmentally friendly management of agricultural land were the following measures: agri-environment-climate measures (AECM) and organic farming (OF). These aid instruments facilitated the use of a range of packages and variants, which resulted in the pro-environmental forms of support offered by the CAP support having a very diverse internal structure. This study therefore attempts to synthesise the diversity of CAP financial support using spatial typology methods. The researched support measures were divided into three basic directions for developing agriculture: ecology, environment and habitat. The research procedure involved the D’Hondt method, the normalisation method, standardisation and correlation. The study was conducted on the example of Poland, and the basic territorial unit of analysis was the commune. It was shown that support for environmentally friendly activities in Poland related to almost 10% of the total farm area. The utilised agricultural area (UAA) covered by subsidies can be broken down as follows: organic farming—32.7%, environmental farming—31.8%, habitat farming—35.5%. The detailed results of the typology indicate the complexity of the spatial distribution of environmentally friendly CAP funds, which is defined by environmental determinants and the characteristics of the farms themselves. Farm-specific, non-environmental determinants were found to be the most significant, including farm size and managerial expertise. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Rural Space Modeling)

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24 pages, 4015 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Spatiotemporal Patterns of Land-Use Changes in Lithuania

by Daiva Juknelienė, Vaiva Kazanavičiūtė, Jolanta Valčiukienė, Virginija Atkocevičienė and Gintautas Mozgeris

Land 2021, 10(6), 619; https://doi.org/10.3390/land10060619 - 09 Jun 2021

Cited by 17 | Viewed by 3215

Abstract

The spatially explicit assessment of land use and land-use change patterns can identify critical areas and provide insights to improve land management policies and associated decisions. This study mapped the land uses and land-use changes in Lithuanian municipalities since 1971. Additionally, an analysis was conducted of three shorter periods, corresponding to major national land-use policy epochs. Data on land uses, available from the Lithuanian National Forest Inventory (NFI) and collected on an annual basis with the primary objective of conducting greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting and reporting for the land use, land-use change, and forestry (LULUCF) sectors, were explored. The overall trend in Lithuania during the last five decades has been an increase in the area of forest and built-up land and decrease in the area of producing land, meadow/pasture, wetlands, and other land uses. Nevertheless, the development trends for the proportions of producing land and meadow/pasture changed trajectories several times, and the breakpoints were linked with important dates in Lithuanian history and associated with the reorganization of land management and land-use relations. Global Moran’s I statistic and Anselin Local Moran’s I were used to check for global and local patterns in the distribution of land use in Lithuanian municipalities. The proportions of producing land and pasture/meadow remained spatially autocorrelated during the whole period analysed. Local spatial clusters and outliers were identified for all land-use types used in GHG inventories in the LULUCF sector at all the time points analysed. Ordinary least squares (OLS) regression was used to explain the land-use change trends during several historical periods due to differing land management policies, utilizing data from freely available databases as the regressors. The percentage of variance explained by the models ranged from 37 to 65, depending on the land-use type and the period in question. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Rural Space Modeling)

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21 pages, 4261 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Modeling Future Land Use Development: A Lithuanian Case

by Gintautas Mozgeris and Daiva Juknelienė

Land 2021, 10(4), 360; https://doi.org/10.3390/land10040360 - 01 Apr 2021

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2093

Abstract

Effective management decisions regarding greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions may be hampered by the lack of scientific tools for modeling future land use change. This study addresses methodological principles for land use development scenario modeling assumed for use in processes of GHG accounting and management. Associated land use policy implications in Lithuania are also discussed. Data on land uses, available from the National Forest Inventory (NFI) and collected for GHG accounting from the land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF) sector in the country, as well as freely available geographic information, were tested as an input for modeling land use development in the country. The modeling was implemented using the TerrSet Land Change Modeler. Calibration of the modeling approach using historical land use data indicated that land use types important for GHG management in the LULUCF sector were predicted with an accuracy above 80% during a five-year period into the future, while the prediction accuracy for forest and built-up land was 96% or more. Based on several land management scenarios tested, it was predicted that the LULUCF sector in Lithuania will accumulate CO₂, with the forest land use type contributing most to CO₂ absorption. Key measures to improve the GHG balance and carbon stock changes were suggested to be the afforestation of abandoned or unused agricultural land and prevention of the conversion of grassland into producing land. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Rural Space Modeling)

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15 pages, 1147 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Land-Use Planning and the Public: Is There an Optimal Degree of Civic Participation?

by Miroslav Kopáček

Land 2021, 10(1), 90; https://doi.org/10.3390/land10010090 - 19 Jan 2021

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3332

Abstract

Civic participation has an irreplaceable role in the land-use planning process because it contributes a practical perspective to expert knowledge. This article discusses whether there is actually a level of civic participation that can be considered optimal, which would allow experts to effectively obtain information from everyday users of the territory, who have the best practical knowledge of it; experts may also gain sufficient feedback on intended developments, based on knowledge about civic participation from representatives of individual municipalities. The article also proposes measures that can promote an optimal degree of participation in the land-use planning process. The fieldwork was conducted in the form of semi-structured interviews with the mayors of municipalities with a population of up to 2000 inhabitants in selected districts of the Ústí Region (Czech Republic). The results suggest that the optimal degree of civic participation in land-use planning should have a representative extent, so it should not merely be a matter of individuals, but also one of groups of dozens of people, and such groups should encompass a balanced variety of characteristics; an optimal level of civic participation should also provide the maximum number of relevant impulses. Measures that may secure and foster an optimal degree of civic participation in land-use planning include (1) striving to avoid preferring purely voluntary participation; (2) simultaneously utilizing various tools to engage inhabitants; (3) educating inhabitants on a regular basis; and (4) consistently communicating and providing feedback, while also searching for informal means of communication and discussion. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Rural Space Modeling)

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15 pages, 3567 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Proposed Land Exchange Algorithm for Eliminating the External Plot Patchwork

by Żanna Stręk, Przemysław Leń, Justyna Wójcik-Leń, Paweł Postek, Monika Mika and Leszek Dawid

Land 2021, 10(1), 64; https://doi.org/10.3390/land10010064 - 13 Jan 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1971

Abstract

In many countries of the world, rural areas are characterized by a defective spatial structure of agricultural land. The most frequent defects are large fragmentation and distribution of farmland. The fragmentation of land has been an issue widely described by many authors throughout the world. The problem of the distribution of land owned by individual farmers is slightly different, since due to the complexity of the problem this issue was not widely explored in Poland (plot patchwork) or in other countries of Europe and the world. Land fragmentation and distribution of plots in rural areas has a negative effect on the profitability and efficiency of agricultural production. Land consolidation and exchange is an operation facilitating spatial structure improvement. The authors attempted to develop a universal land exchange algorithm for eliminating the external plot patchwork. As it turns out, so far no land exchange algorithm has been developed. Specific analyses were carried out in Puchaczów commune, county of Łęczna, Lublin voivodeship in the eastern part of Poland, covering an area of 6907.80 ha, split into 15,211 plots. The chequerboard arrays method was used. The publication presents the algorithm and its practical application using a test sample. A result of the studies is a proposal concerning the exchange of land between landowners in the villages of the commune of Puchaczów. Using the algorithm, the area of individual lands in the commune, after the exchange, will increase by 172.09 ha, which is 2.5% for the area of individual lands, and 1.9% for the commune. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Rural Space Modeling)

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Review

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18 pages, 37802 KiB

Open AccessReview

Geographic Information Systems and the Sustainable Development of Rural Areas

by Krystyna Kurowska, Renata Marks-Bielska, Stanisław Bielski, Audrius Aleknavičius and Cezary Kowalczyk

Land 2021, 10(1), 6; https://doi.org/10.3390/land10010006 - 23 Dec 2020

Cited by 22 | Viewed by 4878

Abstract

Sustainable development is socioeconomic growth that integrates political, economic, and social measures alongside environmental protection to meet the needs of communities and citizens without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. The sustainable development concept was initially based on three main pillars: environment, economy, and society. In successive years, this concept has been expanded to include new pillars. The awareness of these changes has influenced our research interests. The main research objective of this study was to evaluate the applicability of geographic information system (GIS) tools (data, tools, and multidimensional analyses) to the implementation of sustainable development principles in rural areas. The study covered rural and nonurbanized areas in Poland, especially farmland, forests, fisheries, and farms. The study presents the results of our research into environmental, economic, and social determinants of growth in the spatial dimension. GIS tools continue to evolve, which improves access to information and increases database managers’ awareness that highly accurate data are needed for spatial analyses. GIS systems allow us to formulate, in a structured and formal way, models that reflect both the current state and forecast changes that will occur in space. It is a very useful tool in the sustainable development of rural areas. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Rural Space Modeling)

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