Land developability: Developing an index of land use and development for population research

This research proposes an approach for linking land use and development to population data by using the ModelBuilder function of ArcGIS. The layers of land use and development are aggregated into a single raster layer representing undevelopable lands. The layer of undevelopable lands in pixels is then aggregated to political or geographical areas from which a Developability Index representing the proportion of lands available for development can be derived. The index can then be linked to population data for demographic research. For demonstration purposes, the proposed approach is used to generate a Land Developability Index for all minor civil divisions of Wisconsin, USA, in 2001. This approach and the generated land developability are useful for studying the relationship between land use and development and population dynamics based on political or geographical areas.