A model for quantifying and predicting urban pressure on woodland [An article from: Landscape and Urban Planning]

This digital document is a journal article from Landscape and Urban Planning, published by Elsevier in 2006. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Description:
European and global urbanisation is increasing. For the urban population, the woodlands in the urban and peri-urban landscape are important as places for recreation and contact with nature among other functions. This paper presents a geographical information system (GIS) based model to classify urban woodlands by urban pressure, of which visitor pressure is a key component. The model identifies and uses distance, accessibility and quality of woodland as key components affecting visitation rates for urban woodland. The model was applied to the Malmo-Lund region in Sweden, a highly urbanised area with few areas accessible for recreation. Validation of the model was through field inventory of indicators of urban pressure. The classification identifies woodlands with a high priority for including visitor pressure in management planning.