(1985), 
f India, 
(1989), 
Mapping 
t — 1, 
1992), A 
d Cover 
Ground 
995), All 
| / Land 
'hniques, 
IAPRS & SIS, Vol.34, Part 7, "Resource and Environmental Monitoring", Hyderabad, India,2002 
  
REMOTE SENSING AND GEO-INFORMATION SYSTEMS AS TOOLS FOR 
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT BY INTEGRATED LAND USE PLANING IN CHINA 
Timo Balz, Dieter Fritsch 
Institute for Photogrammetry (ifp), University of Stuttgart, D-70174 Stuttgart, Germany 
Timo.Balz &ifp.uni-stutteart.de, Dieter.Fritsch € ifp.uni-stutteart.de 
Commission 7, WG VII/3.4 
KEY WORDS: sustainable development, remote sensing, spatial database, data fusion, land use planning 
ABSTRACT: 
Sustainability has been discussed for a long time now, not only in the field of land-use planning. Still achieving a sustainable 
development isn't easy. The complexity of the nature makes it impossible to pay attention to all the various factors affecting the 
sustainability. Giving the planning authorities and politicians guidelines in form of useable and understandable information is an 
important milestone on the way to a sustainable land-use planning. The joint German-Chinese research project SILUP (Sustainable 
Development by Integrated Land Use Planning) tries to achieve this. This means simultaneously respect the ecological and the 
socio-economic value of land, judging the different values and finding suitable areas for the development needs. This cannot be 
achieved by only collecting and delivering as much data as possible. The data has to be classified, generalized and simplified. The 
information has to presented in an understandable way and it's not useful if too much single pieces of information are delivered. 
The project aims for a map containing simplified categories. This categorized map shows the land use planners in an easy and 
understandable way, which areas should be protected and which area could be used for further development. The first phase of the 
SILUP project could be finished successfully and was highly acknowledged by the German BMBF (Federal Ministry for Education 
and Research) and the UNESCO. : 
1. INTRODUCTION Coexisting to this development is a terrible waste of land re- 
sources and destructions of ecological systems. 
1.1 The Situation in the Jiangniang County ; 
The new Development Zone, new towns, highways and the 
new airport are occupying a considerable amount of former 
farmland. Since 1985 the farmland in Jiangniang county has 
been reduced by 150km?. Because this fast development still 
keeps going on and more and more land is being developed, 
the need for a sustainable land use planning in Jiangniang 
county is getting obvious. 
Since 1980 the fast transition process from a centrally planned 
economy to a socialist market economy has a significant impact 
on every aspect of the society in the Peoples Republic of 
China. In this transition the short-termed economical benefits 
seemed more important than the complicated and long-termed 
effects of the fast development on society and environment. 
The very fast growth leaves just a small space for a sustainable 
development. But the resulting problems become more and 
more obvious. The fast economical growth is accompanied by 
the destruction and over-exploitation of the nature. A 
1.2 Is sustainable development suited for the needs of the 
people in China? 
sustainable development is necessary to transform the fast and For: the future development of the county, it’s necessary to 
overheated growth into a long and steady development suited canalise the growth, to secure important parts of the landscape 
for the economy, the people and the beautiful nature of China. for flood-protection, to keep a high bio-diversity in the region, 
to take care of the agriculture and to protect the nature as 
whole. These important needs are now being more and more 
recognised by the local planning authorities throughout China. 
The ecological problems coming from the very fast develop- 
ment are getting obvious to everyone. Therefore the question is 
not: “Do the people need a sustainable development.” The 
EAS = question is: “How can we achieve a more sustainable develop- 
  
ment.” 
Achieving an sustainable development is not a trivial problem. 
The aspect of a sustainable development is the field of interest 
for many different sciences and the scientists working on 
  
  
  
Figure 1. Geographical location of the project area sustainability come from a broad range of different scientific 
backgrounds. Sustainability is a complex matter and cannot be 
To develop and test the ideas and methods a small test area reached by creating one perfect solution. It’s also impossible to 
was chosen. The chosen project area was in Jiangniang County view the whole complexity of sustainability by looking from 
near Nanjing. Nanjing is located at the Yangtze river, about just one scientific discipline. The borders of the sciences are 
300km west of Shanghai. The city has expanded every year at too small for the broad range problem of sustainability. 
an tremendous speed since the reforms of 1978 until now. 
547