Land-use conflicts in a Swiss peri-urban landscape: Which socio-demographic and environmental variables are associated with their presence and absence?

Abstract

Land-use conflicts are multifaceted social phenomena especially prevalent in periurban landscapes where land is limited and the margin of separation between diverse urban and rural uses is small. Their complexity poses an ongoing challenge for research and management. We investigate which socio-demographic and environmental variables are associated with conflict occurrence. The study area is located in a peri-urban landscape of Switzerland where conflict data were collected through a content analysis of the local print media. Decision trees are calculated to relate the presence or absence of conflicts to possible explanatory variables. The results show that four main variables are associated with the occurrence of land-use conflicts: proportion of rented accommodation, steepness of the terrain, population growth, and the proportion of commuters. The tree model is useful for theory building and can stimulate discussions on where land use conflicts are most likely to occur. Furthermore, based on the study we would suggest accompanying land change processes in areas with a high proportion of rented accommodations with especially comprehensive public participation processes.