Digital Coast In Action
Using Regional Planning Tools to Achieve Sustainability in North Carolina
The Strategic Lands Inventory is an initiative that combines partnerships, stakeholder input, spatial data, and tools to achieve sustainability in the coastal plain of southeastern North Carolina. This decision-support tool helps planners match the land to its most sustainable use. The Strategic Lands Inventory has leveraged federal and state funds and engaged regional and local stakeholders to create new perspectives on sustainability.
The Process
Detailed data sets of soils, land cover, parcels, and infrastructure were used to create suitability maps for six land use types: residential; commercial; industrial; sustainable farmland; sustainable forestland; and natural resources. Each map is created by applying a set of criteria to identify an area’s potential suitability for each type of land use. Synthesis maps were also created—these combine more than one suitability map, thereby enabling the user or users to compare competing high-potential uses (see map below). Both the suitability and synthesis maps provide a decision support framework for local and regional governments, economic development partnerships, conservation organizations, and other key stakeholders.
Suitability analysis provides the foundation for parcel-based ranking and evaluation, because it helps stakeholders avoid resource conflicts, make collaborative decisions, support multiple requirements, and identify a common “good map.” For example, a suitability analysis might show that the characteristics of certain land areas display great potential for both agricultural use and commercial use. This competition between two of the highest-rated land uses can enable stakeholders to compare the benefits and trade-offs of each type.
Currently, regional stakeholders are using the suitability maps in tandem with geospatial data sets to address specific planning and policy issues. Furthermore, initiatives that coordinate, standardize, preserve, and provide access to geospatial resources—examples include Digital Coast and the NC OneMap—will make future “land-matching” initiatives similar to the Strategic Lands Inventory easier to implement.
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