Conservation Zoning

Conservation zoning is a spatial planning strategy used to manage urban and rural landscapes and sometimes marine areas. The term can refer to any land use or marine planning process whose primary goal is purported to be the conservation of social and/or natural resources. It is a territorial mechanism that delineates bounded zones for which particular rules apply—in this case, rules meant to conserve particular environmental values. At its most basic, conservation zoning sets out acceptable density levels and residential footprints to ensure the persistence of green space. In urban landscapes, both social and environmental characteristics are targets of conservation zoning, whereas in rural areas, conservation zoning is used primarily to protect natural resources and ecosystem services. Geography and geographers have played a role in ...