Urban Land Evaluation: Land Capability and Suitability - Assignment Example

Urban Land Evaluation: Land Capability and Suitability Introduction There are three basic components in rural land. It is commonly a source of food for the majority of its population, resources as well as acting as a place for biodiversity and where most people live. These components of the rural land relate in the following manner: source of food (Economic), biodiversity (Environment), Place to live (Brown, Johnson, Loveland, & Theobald, 2005). Any agricultural land is considered a major resource and not a commodity. This resource is seen to be dwindling in the NSW of Narrabri as most of the productive land is being converted to residential places and rural residential use for the people. The major issue seen in planning in the preservation of most agricultural land is what exists as the current size of holdings. The smaller the sizes the more likely the land is to be used for residential use and when there is both intensive and extensive use there is likelihood of conflict resulting from rural land use. Larger plot existence makes it easy to protecting agricultural resources in the area (Narrabri Shire Council, 2014). Questions: 1 Geographically, Narrabri is located in West of NSW in Namoi valley. In the year 2014, the area had a population of 14, 239. The size of the place is 13,065 sq. km. This area is famous for producing high-quality cotton, as well as wheat, beef cattle fat and wool. Narrabri is like any other hinterlands like Shire, Edgeri, Baan Baa, Pilliga and Gwabegar. Interestingly, the goodness of nature, there are two basic landscapes in Shire one of the hinterlands of Narrabri. One is an open and flat floodplain of Namoi River. On the other side is the vegetated steep land of Kaputar Range (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2013). A study was done on the area in line with rural land use policy, policy on sustainable agriculture and NSW policy for protection of agricultural land. The land use policy covered the following aspects: its mandate to minimize the loss or over fragmentation of agricultural land or holding, to maintain and promote agricultural activities and uses in the future. This policy was enacted to promote healthy use of land without putting the quality of land into threat because of human settlement (Hannon & Hicks 1980). Basing on what has been brought in line with urban land evaluation, the locality within Narrabari can be assessed for its land capability and suitability for use. Urban capability is defined as the inherent (exist as an essential constituent) physical potential of any land to be able to support urban development effectively without causing degradation on the land and watershed. It is very essential for coming up with a plan and in making a resolve. This is the part if ignored it can result in catastrophic damage to structures and environment or even loss of biodiversity, a case to be for Narrabri (Narrabri Shire Council, 2014). Review of Narrabri geography in relation to setting urban within it is a mix of thoughts. There are a lot of factors that favor the area for a big commerce center within it. Firstly, it has rich hinterlands that are resourceful in food production. This will be used in commerce and feeding the residence who will be residing within Narrabari. The land can be used for agricultural purposes due to its good soil characteristics, thereby, producing huge quantities of food crops as well as cash crops that will benefit the Narrabri population (Narrabri Shire Council, 2014). Without such hinterlands then it has an implication that Narrabari will have to rely on foodstuff that are outsourced from other regions far away from the Urban. This will prove to be costly at the end to feed the entire population of the Narrabri through food outsourcing. This may also look too dangerous in times of drought since Narrabri will not have enough food in store to feed its population and what they will have outsourced from other regions might not be enough to feed the entire population of the region. In addition, Narrabari has a considerably low population density when relating its population to its size. Therefore, when setting the urban plan it will not cost the government a lot or even displacing the population from their dwelling since they are very few in the area. This will make it economical and convenience to the government in case of any project it wants to undertake in the region (Narrabri Shire Council, 2014). On the physical geography of the Narrabri, the capability dwindles to almost absolute zero. First, Narrabri is situated within valleys. This makes it impossible or rather expensive to set buildings for the urban area. Narrabri being a valley, then coming up with a plan will force the construction to take the pattern of building in accordance with plateaus. Where there is a flat or undulating land is where the building will tend to be. The physical landscape might bring a slight challenge in the construction process of the urban settlement and the government will have to invest much in order to level down the ground and make it easy for construction to take place (Narrabri Shire Council, 2014). The rough terrain of the region poses greatest danger to the occurrence of landslides where it can set a humanitarian crisis. Roads can be destroyed, housing units covered by debris. More so, one of the hinterlands of the Narrabri (Namoi), has a river and a big flood plain that might be dangerous in cases of heavy rainfall that will trigger flooding in the region. Such area is the one to be a residential area for the workers and businesspersons in the urban area. However, those areas being floodplains can pose danger of being breeding areas for malaria parasite and cost the government. In addition, being close to a river and the area being vegetated, settling in such areas can result in interfering with water catchment area hence loss of the water that is discouraged by environment lobby groups and even for the good of the citizen (Narrabri Shire Council, 2014). Coming up with an urban center in a very fertile and productive land of Narrabari can be very costly to the soils that produce a lot of crops and other agricultural outputs. A case in point, Narrabari is known in producing quality cotton, wheat and beef cattle that bring a lot of revenues to the country hence bringing an urban center in such an area is proving to be chaotic to the economy of the country and degrading the fertile soil of the region. Therefore, it will be ill decision-making to go against the desired outputs and set an urban center in such an area. This is so because the use of the soil in its status outweighs its alternative use, that is even known that the soil of that region will be viable to exceeds the fertility seen at the moment (Hannon & Hicks 1980). Question 2 Narrabari, by a quick assessment, is an area that is suited for rural setting not even residential area given that it is located on the valley. The agriculture being practice cannot be mechanized cheaply for its terrain cannot allow. This hindrance of mechanization in the region makes it hard for cheaper means of large scale agriculture to be practiced in the area. This only allows some certain crops such as cotton and wheat (which are planted on the plains within the valley) to be grown. Even the population of the area has a lot of revelation on its natural prohibition of settlement (Narrabri Shire Council, 2014). Naturally, the areas with valleys and steep slopes will discourage the human beings from settling on it. In addition, deforestation can only dwell well with rural settlement than urban. Urban setting usually encourages heavy logging of trees so that magnificent building can be which is against the environmental policies that discourage deforestation. The vegetated area usually acts as a water catchment area hence tampering with them can have dire consequences on the water resources and the amount of water supply downstream (Hannon & Hicks, 1980). To protect these resources, the council should come to the rescue and save the water catchment areas. Narrabari also prohibits the construction of space saving buildings within the center because the valleys are prone to earthquake that can be very hazardous in case such buildings are brought down in urban areas. So many lives can be lost in the event that an earthquake occurs in a densely populated area. The floodplain within the Narrabari hinterland can be used in the production of rice that will bring a lot of income in terms of revenue to the country (NSW Government, 2014). This is advantageous than just having another urban centre, which will not be of any economic value and very catastrophic to those who will reside in such an urban area. It will be better by keeping the current population in the area in an urban setting. This population will produce more of high-quality cotton that will attract huge revenue and increase the living standards of the people. They will also produce wheat that will feed the citizen and surplus sold for the good of majority to benefit the lives of the citizens at the same time preserving the environment (Burton, Jenks, & Williams, 2013). Question 3 Many facts stand that this area is not good for urban setting but rather rural or an agricultural land use. This comes because the area is steep with many valleys and poor terrain. The area is also vegetated meaning it is a catchment area for the water, which is used by larger populations of the citizens of the country. In addition, this area is fertile hence setting an urban center in such an area will deny the country of its agricultural production capability and produce that will serve in revenue and having an improvement in the food security of the area (Baja, Chapman, & Dragovich, 2002). The flood plain can be another area for mining since these areas tends to have minerals for industries to use. The floods will also be a threat to the residence of the urban population since they tend to be the breeding area of the malaria parasites. This poses a big concern to the health sector of the country and the productivity of its citizen. The waters in the flood plain will be disastrous in case the urban center is in the area. It will have an implication that they have to drain the entire water out, and all of it will go into waste. To rescue the wastage of such a noble resource, the rural setting should be set in the area because it will be easier to harness the water and use it in agriculture to water the plant. By so doing, the productivity will increase because it is not dependent on rainwater for agricultural activities, but instead the water that will otherwise have gone into waste (Pope, 1985; Pressey, Cabeza, Watts, Cowling, & Wilson, 2007). Setting up the road network required by an urban center in such a valley can be a big hustle. This can be reduced by having cheap feeder roads of transporting cotton and wheat. In so doing, the council will be saving the resources, which during the process would have been used in constructing roads and urban center at the expense of constructing productive cheap roads to be used in transporting agricultural produce to the market. Question 4 Putting all the economical, geographical and other consideration into balance against the setting up of the urban center automatically it will be in favor of not constructing the urban center in this area that is situated in the valley. This is because; the risks and the economical implication are scaling the heights and outweigh the benefits that will be somehow be generated from the area. To avoid the foreseeable risks of degrading the soil and depleting the vegetation cover of its hinterland then it is advisable for the catastrophic project not to proceed. In so doing they will save many lives that are likely to die of landslides, floods. The vegetation cover will be protected hence the catchment areas of water also will be saved from human destruction. Therefore, Narrabari should be a rural setting (Hannam & Hicks, 1980; Waddell, 2002). References Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2013). 2011 Census Community Profiles: Narrabri (A). Retrieved September 17, 2014, from http://www.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_services/getproduct/census/2011/communityprofile/LGA15750 Baja, S., Chapman, D. M., & Dragovich, D. (2002). A conceptual model for defining and assessing land management units using a fuzzy modeling approach in GIS environment. Environmental Management, 29(5), 647–661. Brown, D. G., Johnson, K. M., Loveland, T. R., & Theobald, D. M. (2005). Rural land-use trends in the conterminous United States, 1950-2000. Ecological Applications, 15(6), 1851–1863. Burton, E., Jenks, M., & Williams, K. (2013). Achieving sustainable urban form. Routledge. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=q8K4yV4ig0YC&oi=fnd&pg=PR1&dq=urban+land+planning+Australia&ots=IGBZK0kUay&sig=7KpJk0bPSyWa8SO7I2vtSAPTPeM Hannam, I. D., & Hicks, R. W. (1980). Soil conservation and urban land use planning. Journal of the Soil Conservation Service of New South Wales. Retrieved from http://agris.fao.org/agris-search/search.do?recordID=US201302860216 Narrabri Shire Council. (2014). Narrabri :: Narrabri Shire Council: HOME. Retrieved September 17, 2014, from http://www.narrabri.nsw.gov.au/ NSW Government. (2014). NSW Legislation. Retrieved September 17, 2014, from http://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/maintop/view/inforce/epi+636+2012+cd+0+N Pope, C. A. (1985). Agricultural productive and consumptive use components of rural land values in Texas. American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 67(1), 81–86. Pressey, R. L., Cabeza, M., Watts, M. E., Cowling, R. M., & Wilson, K. A. (2007). Conservation planning in a changing world. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 22(11), 583–592. Waddell, P. (2002). UrbanSim: Modeling urban development for land use, transportation, and environmental planning. Journal of the American Planning Association, 68(3), 297–314. Read More