Land Use Dialogues
An engagement programme exploring the UK’s most pressing land use challenges
About
The Geospatial Commission and the Open Innovation Team, in collaboration with Defra, present Land Use Dialogues.
Land Use Dialogues is an engagement programme exploring how data and land use modelling can help tackle some of the UK’s most pressing land use challenges.
Between November 2022 and June 2023, a series of events involving civil servants and external experts will aim to identify the land use implications and challenges of different policy priorities across government and set priorities for data and modelling tools to support better decision-making.
The programme explores several policy themes including energy security, housing and water security.
About the National Land Data Programme
The Geospatial Commission’s National Land Data Programme will make the case for how the UK can enhance land use data and spatial modelling to enable more joined-up decisions on land use – find out more.
Latest updates
Publication of the Finding Common Ground Report, 2023
Over the past year we've been working with the Geospatial Commission on Land Use Dialogues, as part of their National Land Data Programme (NLDP). The programme has seen the Geospatial Commission bring together a wide range of evidence and analysis from regional pilots...
Insights from the Land Use Dialogues policy theme 3: Water security
With a growing population and the impacts of climate change, demands on our water supply are growing. Locating sites for new water infrastructure, while tackling water pollution is vital to ensuring we have enough water for a range of national priorities, ranging from...
Insights from the Land Use Dialogues policy theme 2: Housing
As the population continues to rise and lifestyle choices lead to more people living alone for longer, the UK needs to increase its housing supply. The government remains committed to delivering 300,000 homes a year by the mid-2020s and many of the immediate changes...
Low carbon energy sources and environmental impacts
Dr Alona Armstrong is a Senior Lecturer in Energy & Environmental Sciences at the University of Lancaster. In this video she explains how low carbon energy sources can impact ecosystems and what management tools are being developed to manage and monitor these...
Using spatial data science to deliver more from the same land
The Geospatial Commission’s National Land Data Programme (NLDP) is partnering with the Alan Turing Institute on a pilot with Newcastle City Council to explore how complex local land use decision making can be supported by scenario modelling using data science and AI...
Insights from Land Use Dialogues policy theme 1: Energy security
Recent rises in fuel prices and the cost of living crisis, driven by geopolitical shocks such as the invasion of Ukraine, have highlighted the need for an increase in secure, affordable and sustainable energy production. The government’s ambitions, set out in the...
Using data and analytics to understand the spatial structure of cities
Daniel Arribas-Bel is Professor in Geographic Data Science at the Department of Geography and Planning of the University of Liverpool and Deputy Programme Director and ESRC Fellow for Urban Analytics at the Alan Turing Institute. In this video he explains how...
How GIS and land use modelling can help improve local authority decision-making
Local authorities are tasked with local land-use planning and planning application decisions. In this interview, Richard Kay, Manager of Planning Policy and Environment Lead, East Cambridgeshire District Council, reflects on some of the challenges involved and how...
Land use decision making tools in the Welsh Government
15 minutes with James Skates, Head of Modelling, Monitoring and Geospatial activities in the Welsh Government discussing what an effective land use decision-making tool looks like.I lead work on an integrated modelling platform that supports decision-making by policy...
Insights on creating effective land use decision making tools from the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology
15 minutes with Professor Paula Harrison, Principal Natural Capital Scientist at the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology. In the second of our three guest blogs on the same theme, Paula shares her insights on creating effective land use decision making tools. I work...
Energy Security
How data and modelling tools could help support decisions on where to locate energy infrastructure
Housing
How data and modelling tools
can better support decisions on
land for housing
Water Security
How geospatial techniques
can better support water
management
Topic: Energy Security
Having a diverse energy mix is often considered an important indicator of energy security, but different forms of energy production place very different demands on the land. While the current, largely non-renewable energy system only occupies between 0.4-2% of land globally, transitioning to more varied and renewable energy sources is expected to intensify competition for land.
In this strand of the Land Use Dialogues programme, we’ll be exploring how data and modelling tools could support decision-makers in identifying suitable locations for different forms of energy production, while balancing trade-offs between other potential uses of the land.
Programme Timeline
