Land use

The land use sub-model of Vision Illawarra simulates changes in land use for every year up to 2031. Its outputs are new land-use maps and data for each different type of land use. There are 4 broad categories represented in the model: population (residential land uses), economic (commercial, services and industry), area (agriculture, mining and quarrying) and geographic features (forest, grassland, cliff, beaches and others). These land uses are all represented by 100 m x 100 m squares (1 Ha) on the land-use maps.

Areas of the population and economic categories actively expand or contract over time, according to the simulation’s rules. Rules governing change include land suitability, zoning regulations and proximity to transport. The land occupied by the area categories will only change when it is taken for, or abandoned by population or economic uses. Feature areas remain unchanged; but they may influence nearby land uses, such as a beach attracting housing or businesses.

The reports on this page show changes in land use over time, with maps and graphs. The land use maps directly show the distribution of land uses in the Illawarra, there is one map for each year, selected with the filter function. The maps are divided into travel zones.