Land Evaluation to Support Land Use Planning using Geographic Information Systems and Goal Programming (A Case Study of Depok Municipality, West Java Province)

Abstract

Land evaluation is an important part in the land use planning process. It assesses the suitability of land for specified land uses based on matching the qualities of different land units in a specific area, with the requirements of potential land use. The result of the evaluation is classification of land suitability for specific land uses. The research aims: 1) to analyze the land use based on land suitability for paddy field, dry land cultivation and protected area; 2) to arrange the optimization model for land utilization by considering the socioeconomic and environmental aspects; and 3) to determine the allocation of land utilization for paddy field, dry land cultivation and protected area. Integration between Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Goal Programming (GP) to conduct land evaluation with a view to generate recommendation for optimal land allocation considering the socio-economic and environmental goals. The result of land suitability analysis showed that most of land is suitable for paddy field and dry land cultivation. Only a few of the existing areas was cultivated on land under poorly suitable class, i.e. around 0.05% and 0.15% for paddy field and dry land cultivation, respectively. The rest is cultivated on S1 (highly suitable) and S2 (moderate suitable). The mapping using GIS analysis showed that the protected area should cover 2,097.50 Ha of which about 621.35 Ha has been converted for settlement and industries. Optimizing land utilization was carried out by integrating economic, social (employment), and environmental (ecological) goals through multi-objectives of optimization method. Goal Programming (GP) can be used to optimize the available land resources to achieve these goals. Optimal land utilization in this study using GP increased the total areas of paddy fields and dry land cultivation categorized as cultivated areas. The total cultivated areas increased from the existing condition of 4,843.63 Ha to 4,854.42 Ha. The land allocation for paddy field and dry land cultivation according to GP would increase land productivity and labour input. The value of land productivity would increase to Rp. 30,811,129,271 per year from the yearly target of Rp. 30,811,103,144 per year, while labour input increased from the target of 1,478,966 workdays per year to 1,486,179 workdays per year. The increase of cultivated agriculture area was extended to the existing bare land or grass land which belonging to the S1 or S2 of the land suitability class and should not be categorized as protected area. The total land allocation for protected area is about 1,476.15 Ha.