The development and evaluation of a new model for measuring land fragmentation

Abstract

Land fragmentation is a major problem in different parts of the world. This paper presents a new land fragmentation index which overcomes the weaknesses of existing indices by integrating a number of land fragmentation factors, allowing the user to select which factors are included and to apply weights to the factors selected. When applied to a case study area in Cyprus, the new 'global land fragmentation index' outperforms the existing indices. The paper also introduces a new 'parcel shape index' and a new transformation process known as the 'mean standardisation method'. Sensitivity analysis is carried out to indicate the impact of changing weights of selected factors under particular scenarios and utilisation of the new parcel shape index versus existing indices.