Land planners should understand the needs of their local community when conducting this step, to ensure any plans created fit with its environment.
Commercial land is used for building and related facilities like warehouses, shops and office space. Transportation land provides infrastructure needed to get people from one point to the other while recreational land includes parks, open spaces and sports fields.
Urban Areas
Land use planning allows governmental units to responsibly plan for and control the development of land within their jurisdictions in an ethical and sustainable way. It involves the identification of potentialities and limitations related to environmental, economic, sociocultural and geopolitical considerations as well as geopolitical concerns. Land use plans can also serve to regulate occupation of land by means of zoning restrictions designed to avoid conflicts among residential, commercial or industrial uses of a parcel of land.
Urban areas are complex environments created by large populations and human activity, often creating pressures such as replacing native vegetation with impervious surfaces; degradation of natural or green spaces; increased pollutant loads; and changes to hydrologic regime. Therefore, land use planning in urban areas must promote sustainable development by optimizing infrastructure efficiency while decreasing burden on natural resources.
Other zoning and land-use planning parameters include parks, open spaces, shopping districts and recreational facilities such as parks, open spaces, horseback riding centers, swimming pools and stadiums for football or baseball games. Also important components of urban landscape are government sites like firehouses and police stations as well as transit infrastructure such as bus stops, train or subway systems and airports.
Agriculture land refers to any terrain suitable for farming activities, including growing and harvesting crops, raising livestock in fields, or growing fruits or vegetables in greenhouses. Such land may also be subject to local zoning guidelines and regulations, or requirements regarding farm buildings or the number of animals raised on it.
wilderness encompasses undeveloped land set aside for wildlife preservation or protected by local zoning regulations or legislation. Protecting such undeveloped lands is of vital importance as they provide a buffer to shield cities and towns from natural disasters like earthquakes or floods by cushioning some of their impact.
As yet unknown is the optimal ratio between land and population; however, certain patterns should emerge as research in this field continues. One major challenge lies in standardizing methods and definitions for collecting data, classifying communities according to social, economic, and functional types.
Given that many communities are defined solely in terms of corporate boundaries, land-use summary statistics may be misleading. For instance, cities with significant park space on their outskirts will present differently to communities surrounded by open country with few parks compared with one another. A PLANNING ADVISORY SERVICE Information Report could potentially be issued in order to facilitate more accurate comparisons of land-use data between communities.