Journal
LANDSCAPE AND URBAN PLANNING
Volume 108, Issue 2-4, Pages 140-149Publisher
ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.landurbplan.2012.09.001
Keywords
Conservation planning; Development planning; Urban biodiversity; Reserve selection; ZONATION; Basalt plains grassland
Categories
Funding
- Australian Government's National Environmental Research Program
- Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions
- Australian Research Council [LP0882780]
- Academy of Finland
- Australian Research Council [LP0882780] Funding Source: Australian Research Council
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In Australia, over 50% of threatened species occur within the urban fringe and accelerating urbanization is now a key threat. Biodiversity near and within urban areas brings much social benefit but its maintenance involves complex trade-offs between competing land uses. Urban design typically views biodiversity as a development constraint, not a value to be enhanced into the future. We argue that decisions could be more transparent and systematic and we demonstrate that efficient development solutions can be found that avoid areas important for biodiversity. We present a case study in the context of land use change across the city of Wyndham. a local Government west of Melbourne, Australia. We use reserve design tools in a novel way to identify priority development sites, based on a synthesis of ecological, social and economic data. Trade-offs between biodiversity conservation and other key development objectives and constraints (transport planning, flood risk and food production) are quantified. The analysis can be conducted dynamically with visually compelling output, facilitating more transparent, efficient and democratically derived urban planning solutions. We suggest that government agencies could adopt similar approaches to identify efficient planning solutions for both biodiversity and development in urban environments. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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