(361a) Spatial Optimization for Land Use Allocation Under Food-Energy-Water Nexus Conciderations

Effective land use allocation is of emergent concern due to land scarcity, diminishing supply of energy and water, and the increasing demand of food globally [1]. Land use patterns are considered as a consequence of competitions between different land use types in a specific land area [2]. The competitions may come from interdependent demand and supply of food, energy and water (FEW), and multiple requirements from social, economic and environmental objectives [3]. The coordination of these competitions and the understanding of the complex nexus formed between FEW components in the land use system is a key challenge to land use spatial optimization, and essential for sustainable development [4].

In this work, a general framework for combined land use optimization and resource management in FEW-N systems is described. An optimization problem is formulated that combines spatial land grids, FEW supply and demand, and multiple objectives. A graph theory based algorithm is employed to facilitate the distribution of land grids. Combined data analytics and mixed-integer nonlinear modeling and optimization methods are used to establish the interdependencies and potentially competing interests among the FEW elements related to different land patterns, along with sustainability, economic benefit, and feedback from multiple stakeholders. A multi-objective optimization strategy is followed for the trade-off analysis empowered by the introduction of composite FEW-N metric as means to facilitate decision-making and compare alternative processes and pathways [5,6]. An existing area in China is selected as a case study to verify the validity of the model. Computational results indicate that the approach can solve land use spatial optimization problems, achieve trade-off solutions for multiple objectives, and coordinate the competitions in the FEW-Nexus.

References

[1] Yuan, K. Y., Lin, Y. C., Chiueh, P. T., & Lo, S. L. (2018). Spatial optimization of the food, energy, and water nexus: A life cycle assessment-based approach. Energy policy, 119, 502-514.

[2] Fotakis, D., & Sidiropoulos, E. (2014). Combined land-use and water allocation planning. Annals of Operations Research, 219(1), 169-185.

[3] Ringler, C., Bhaduri, A., & Lawford, R. (2013). The nexus across water, energy, land and food (WELF): potential for improved resource use efficiency?. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 5(6), 617-624.

[4] Yao, J., Zhang, X., & Murray, A. T. (2018). Spatial Optimization for Land-use Allocation: Accounting for Sustainability Concerns. International Regional Science Review, 41(6), 579-600.

[5] Avraamidou, S., Milhorn, A., Sarwar, O., & Pistikopoulos, E. N. (2018). Towards a Quantitative Food-Energy-Water Nexus Metric to Facilitate Decision Making in Process Systems: A Case Study on a Dairy Production Plant. In Computer Aided Chemical Engineering (Vol. 43, pp. 391-396). Elsevier.

[6] Nie, Y., Avraamidou, S., Xiao, X., Pistikopoulos, E.N., Li, J., Zeng, Y., Song, F., Yu, J., & Zhu, M. (2019). A Food-Energy-Water Nexus approach for land use optimization. Science of The Total Environment, 659, pp.7-19.