Utilizing corine land cover data in diverse spatial decision making and management processes

This research work originates from a basic interest in scrutinizing the unexplored symbiotic relationship between the advancements in information technologies and real life complex problems. Generally, the later boosts an intellectual energy in search for solutions to specific everyday life problems, leading to significant innovation in technology. These advancements mainly overpass the expectations of the problem solving goals of the initial phase, marking further progress in technology. Meanwhile, this progression, the utilization of which may provide solutions to several other unexplored real life problems, defines new areas of research to be discovered. The advancements in information technologies have shown the ability to assist human intellect first in understanding and later in handling the complexity of issues in spatial planning and management. The high storage capacities of the machine make possible archiving of big data covering a gradient of spatial scales simultaneously. Furthermore, the high computation abilities of the computer enable multivariable and multiscale analytical processes approaching closer to a holistic handling of everyday life problems. Holistic solutions can be developed only upon all-inclusive understanding of the problem. Within the scope of decision making objectives of territorial planning and management, the properties of the landscape become very crucial. Landscape here is used following the definition in European Landscape Convention (ELC), "as an area whose character is the result of the action and interaction of natural and/or human factors" (EC, 2000, p.2). Similarly, according to Hartshorne (1939), landscape is described as "an outward manifestation of most of the factors at work in the area". One of the main methods of monitoring the properties of the landscape in a territory is land cover assessment. In this context, this work focuses on exploring the potentials in utilizing the land cover monitoring technologies in various spatial decision making and management processes. Following a Problem Oriented Research (POR) method, it defines and makes cases of various situations of decision making circumstances that can benefit from CORINE land cover (CLC) data. CLC data is the product of the land cover monitoring program initiated by European Union in 1985. It is providing periodically (every 6 years) monitored data of land cover in a pan-European scale as an open source. The thesis presents a set of real-life diverse cases being studied and sharing a single common. CLC utilization acts as the common material and method for all cases presented in this thesis. The main analytical phases of each study have been worked in ArcGIS 10.2.2 software. Besides, ArcGIS extension toolboxes like MatrixGreen or ModelBuilder have been used in a specific study. Each case is prepared in the format of an article manuscript being published in internationally recognized scientific journals. First, CLC data are utilized as a mean to measure the landscape fragmentation among broad-leaved forested surfaces (Chapter 2). Landscape fragmentation assessment is a crucial analysis in a territory prior to developing natural conservation management agendas in Europe. The study is theoretically set on the patch-corridor-matrix concept as developed by Forman and Gordon, where patches consist of broad-leaved surfaces as derived from CLC data and corridors as generated by MatrixGreen (MG) toolbox. The territory of Albania is selected as the study area for this article. The results of the study have shown that the combined utilization of CLC data and MG toolbox provide ground to enable rapid landscape fragmentation assessment at landscape scale. This work has been presented in the conference of Digital Landscape Architecture-2017 in Bernburg, Germany. Entitled as "Landscape Fragmentation Assessment Utilizing the Matrix Green Toolbox and CORINE Land Cover Data" it is published as an article in the Journal of Digital Landscape Architecture (JoDLA). The study in chapter 3 presents a method of utilizing CLC data as an environmentally friendly decision making mediator during Territorial Administrative Reform (TAR, on local administrative divisions). The case study and the main focus of this research is the current Albanian TAR (2014). First, CLC data is utilized to measure the landscape fragmentation caused by the new local administrative borders within the recent TAR which results to have not considered the environmental factors of the territory. Furthermore, CLC data is utilized as a criterion for readjusting the local administrative borders of the capital city, Tirana. As a result, the research has shown that CLC data can be a successful input during the local boundaries definition phase of TAR process, minimizing landscape fragmentation caused by the local administrative boundary line. Entitled as "Land cover data as environmentally sensitive decision-making mediator in territorial and administrative reform", this paper is published in the journal Cogent Environmental Science (Taylor & Francis). Next, chapter 4 makes a case of CLC data utilization in disaster risk assessment and fire safety management (DRMFS). It starts with a literature review to identify main factors either causing ignition or motivating the spread of a wildfire event. Consequently, a multi-criteria indexing framework is proposed both for ignition probability and spread capacity. The study makes a case of broad-leaved forested surfaces in the northern Albanian territory as derived from CLC data of 2006. The workflow consists of three stages; multi-criteria inventory for each location (data collection), analyzing and interpreting the gathered data via Analytical Hierarchy Processing (AHP) and clustering them via Jenks natural break method (data interpretation), and finally, indexing every location within the forested surface by their wildfire ignition probability (WIPI) and wildfire spread capacity (WSCI). Later a validation procedure is developed by comparing the results from 2006 CLC data with CLC data of 2012. The results show successful prediction abilities of the model in assessing the wildfire risk. The method developed within this study results successfully in delivering a rapid, not-expensive and reliable wildfire risk assessment model useful for DRMFS agendas. Entitled "A GIS based method for indexing the broad-leaved forest surfaces by their wildfire ignition probability and wildfire spreading capacity" is currently published in the journal of Modelling Earth Systems and Environment (Springer). Finally, in chapter 5 and chapter 6, CLC data utilization is explored within the scope of coastal zone studies. CLC spatial data are used as the raw material of an analytical workflow aiming to analyze the structure of the coastal landscapes and to reveal the transversal continuum of natural landscapes within the coastal zone. The novel approach makes a shift from the classical longitudinal analysis of the coastal lands towards the transversal one. Chapter 5 presents the method applied to the Turkish Mediterranean coast, leading to significant findings of the natural landscapes along the Turkish Mediterranean coast. First, the method introduces two new attributes for each coastal landscape patch; the band and the transversal continuum depth (TCD) values. The band level is the value of the physical connectivity order of each patch in relation with the coastline. Whereas, TCD value refers to the maximum band level a specific landscape patch is providing transversal connectivity for. Moreover, the method is successful in mapping the transversally connected natural landscape mosaics (TCNLMs) in the coastal zone. As a result, there are identified landscape patches which are endangered for being singular connectors within a certain identified TCNLM. Similarly, there are identified artificial landscape patches on the coastline that if restored can provide a transversal continuum for potential TCNLMs. The presented method may assist different analysis within the Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) initiative and Sustainable Coastal Tourism. The results of this study are served for use by different public administration and governmental bodies such as responsible ministries or local administration. The study presented in Chapter 5 is entitled "Revealing the transversal continuum of natural landscapes in coastal zones - Case of the Turkish Mediterranean coast" and is published in Ocean and Coastal Management journal (Elsevier). The detailed explanation of the method developed in ModelBuilder (ArcGIS) is presented in Chapter 6. Developed as a toolbox, the model is already tested in and resulted to be successfully applicable for another coastal zone having a coastline and land cover data. Furthermore, the model has the potential to be utilized in other contexts like watersheds, by introducing the watercourse line or the perimeter line of the lake by replacing the coastline. The method presented in chapter5 and chapter 6 is projected to be further developed towards a multi-scale transversal analysis of water-centered landscapes. Entitled as "A GIS-based method for revealing the transversal continuum of natural landscapes in the coastal zone" this work is published as an article in MethodsX journal (Elsevier). Besides the core chapters presenting the published articles, the thesis includes an Introduction (Chapter 1) and a Conclusions & Recommendations (Chapter 7) chapter. Chapter 1, presents a brief introduction to the topic focusing on the CLC data emergence in the discourse of sustainability and the age of information technology. It delivers the motivation, objectives, research questions, and the hypothesis behind this research activity. Each article presented here draws significant results and puts forward certain topics as further improvements and future steps. But, common conclusions and comparative discussions are provided in the final chapter of this thesis. In the Conclusions and Recommendations chapter, certain drawbacks and limitations of the research process are discussed, targeting further improvements as future steps of this research. Moreover, a comparative discussion is made by comparing the cases included in this thesis trying to figure out the most appropriate case in which CLC data could be utilized for. As the final conclusion, the collection of works comprising this thesis shows the successful utility of CLC data in diverse spatial decision making and management processes.