| According to a new ABAG report, 50,000 acres of open land in the Bay Area were developed for commercial or residential purposes between 1985 and 1995.
The report includes new data and maps showing existing land use for the nine-county Bay Area, as well as descriptions of land use change from 1985 to 1995. The type of land use change and the scale of that change varies depending on the geographical location within the urban Bay Area region. In overall terms, the type and the extent of land use change is strongly related to whether it is in the urban core (Oakland and San Francisco), inner suburbs (such as Albany), suburbs (such as Walnut Creek) or outer suburb (such as Antioch). However, there may be particular conditions which might induce a land use change at the local scale, such as the existence of a freeway interchange or the redevelopment of an urban area due to a natural disaster. The report describes how development trends that are typical of a suburb are occurring in the inner city, while those that are typical of the inner city seem to be occurring in the suburbs. At the same time that land uses in the suburbs are diversifying into a greater mix ofuses, portions of the inner city seem to be following a suburban land use pattern through the redevelopment of industrial zones into large single-use commercial developments. Also, the increase in the mix of uses that are taking place within suburban areas is perhaps an indication of a land use pattern which might take place in the future in the outer suburbs. Changes in land use over the last 10 years have not radically changed the overall urban form of the Bay Area. There is a pattern of reuse and redevelopment within the inner cities and a pattern of outward residential expansion in the peripheral areas of the region. Knowledge about existing land use and land cover is important for a number of different planning functions, including estimating potential for future urban development and redevelopment, environmental quality analysis (such as surface runoff, wetlands inventories and air quality analyses), and hazard impact work (such as the impact of wildland fires, various toxic gas releases or a major earthquake). Similarly, knowledge of land use change is important because it can aid in visualizing urban development patterns and their implications. To order the report, Existing Land Use in 1995: Data for Bay Area Counties and Cities, (#P96007EQK) send a check for $65 (plus local sales tax) to ABAG, P.O. Box 2050, Oakland, CA 94604-2050 |