Land Use Module

The Land Use Module of SMARTPLANS uses base year (i.e. time t) zonal data along with predicted region wide controls for future years t+1, t+2, …, etc. to predict the future changes (i.e. time t+1, t+2, …) in land use at the zonal level. The user has full control over the nature of the zones (i.e. size and/or shape) that will be used to run the simulations.

The Land Use Module, as shown in the figure below, consists of three sub-modules:

1. Real-Estate Submodule

The Real-Estate Submodule predicts the prices of land uses at the zonal level. This submodule also predicts the amount of land development that will be available in a given zone and for a given land use type in prediction years t+1, t+2,…, etc. The user can specify the number of land use categories for which land prices and land development will be predicted.

2. Accessibility Submodule

The Accessibility Submodule predicts the level of zonal accessibility to various land uses based on the inter-zonal travel time calculated by the Transportation Module. Typically, accessibility measures are used as explanatory variables (i.e. predictors) of the amount of development or land use activities that will emerge in the zones.

3. Land Use Activities Submodule

The Land use Activities Sub-module deals with two entities: Population and Firms. The purpose of this sub-module is to predict the number of people (or households) and number of jobs (or firms) that will exist in the zones. The user can specify the number of population segments and/or economic sectors to include in the land use sub-module. Base year zonal population is used in conjunction with future year region-wide population predictions to predict future (i.e. time t+1, t+2, …) zonal population. Similarly, base year zonal jobs or firms is used in conjunction with future year region-wide job or firm predictions to predict future (i.e. time t+1, t+2, …) zonal jobs or firms.