A multifunctional assessment method for compromise optimisation of linear landscape elements.

The importance of linear landscape elements is the topic of a wide-ranging discussion. This paper demonstrates a methods framework for the modelling and visualisation of optimal allocation of linear elements by multifunctional risk assessment. We use the example of hedgerows to describe an optimisation technique for such planning. Using the GIS tool “Line Generator”, developed by the authors, a network of existing and new potential lines was defined and exemplified by hedgerows and rows of trees. A spatial risk assessment of the lines for selected landscape functions is then quantified. Goals of landscape development such as presetting the spatial orientation of linear elements are integrated into the framework. The authors developed the software LNOPT 2.0, a linear programming combined with game theory. The methods were tested in an agricultural region in Saxony-Anhalt in Germany by integrating the opposing functions “wind erosion risk”, “water erosion risk” and “habitat suitability for the farmland bird Corn Bunting (Emberiza Calandra)”. Results lead to optimise the benefit of a limited length of new linear elements. This combined method is a step towards making both the planning and the integration of multi-functional assessments into land use decisions objective and achievable by GIS.

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