Best Practices on Land Management Strategies

Sustainable urban developments depend on several critical issues. The world population is not evenly distributed around the world; nor are the world’s available resources. These are the two main constraints to overcome for any kind of successful project.

The policy issues that lead to the necessary legislations are the guides for correct planning. There is a continuous global pressure for the consideration of the needs of all people of today and the generations to come, demanding a dominant responsibility of the professionals involved in the process of urban planning.

The awareness of this responsibility demands the consideration of a technical attitude to have a multidisciplinary approach to all related work. The necessary policy issues have to cover all potential factors to be included over the long-term work needed.

As the global population increases and urban migrations become a fact of life for nations, urban problems gain dominance. The concept of urban regeneration programs will help to vitalize the unused land and incorporate it in the development process.

As the available and usable land resources are constrained by economic pressures, the issue of land development needs to be a factor of dominance. All developments must be conceived to be sustainable for the generations to come. Society cannot prevent the societal changes and particularly population growth. Hence, the common attitude needs to focus on the success of the smart growth approaches and programs. This will include the provision of properly designed affordable housing for the needs of families from various ethnic and economic sectors.

The issue of quality in all activities should not be compromised, as quality is the main ingredient of sustainability. This includes basic concepts such as the local and regional zoning requirements, as well as the code requirements and their strict enforcements.

The land management strategies need to cover, at least, the aforementioned activities, and more. There are numerous project management tools, as well as the expert system-based approaches to benefit and create a more efficient land management.

The environmental factors cannot be ignored as they tend to become, unexpectedly, dominant factors. The recent awareness of global warming factors will always effect the land development and land-use policies.

As we cannot avoid urban growth, let us work to make it a smart growth and a sustainable growth.

I would like to thank the ASCE Land-Use Committee and Transportation and Development Institute for their sponsorship, the authors who submitted valuable manuscripts, and the colleagues who edited these manuscripts.