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LUISA

LUISA Territorial Modelling Platform

Territorydynamic land functionland useterritorial impact assessmentsustainabilityland managementterritorial modelling platformcohesionurban agendaconvergence

overview

Territorydynamic land functionland useterritorial impact assessmentsustainabilityland managementterritorial modelling platformcohesionurban agendaconvergence

main purpose

A territorial modelling platform primarily used for the ex-ante evaluation of EC policies that have a direct or indirect territorial impact.

summary

The LUISA Territorial Modelling Platform is primarily used for the ex-ante evaluation of EC policies that have a direct or indirect territorial impact. It is based on the concept of ‘land function’ for cross-sector integration and for the representation of complex system dynamics. Beyond a traditional land use model, LUISA adopts a new approach towards activity-based modelling based upon the endogenous dynamic allocation of population, services and activities.

LUISA can be configured to project a baseline (or reference) scenario, assuming official socio-economic trends (from DG ECFIN and EUROSTAT), business as usual processes, and the effect of established European policies with direct and/or indirect territorial impacts. Variations to that reference scenario may be used to estimate impacts of specific policies, or of alternative macro-assumptions. This highly flexible and customisable structure of LUISA makes it a suitable tool for providing insights to policy-makers in Europe regarding landscape, urban areas, investment policies, environment and, more broadly, aspects pertaining to sustainability and territorial cohesion.

LUISA is based upon the notion of land function – a new concept for cross-sector integration and for representing complex system dynamics. LUISA aims to contribute to the understanding, modelling and assessment of the impacts of land functions dynamics as they interact from local to global scales in the context of multiple and changing drivers. A land function can, for example, be  societal (e.g. provision of housing, leisure and recreation), economic (e.g. provision of production factors - employment, investments, energy – or provision of manufacturing products and services – food, fuels, consumer goods, etc) or environmental (e.g. provision of ecosystem services). Land functions are temporally and spatially dynamic, and are constrained and driven by natural, socio-economic, and techno-economic processes. The ultimate product of LUISA is a set of spatially explicit indicators that can be combined according to the ‘function’ of interest and/or to the sector under assessment.

This is notably a wider notion of just “land use modelling” and of what so far has been referred to in literature.

The LUISA Modelling platform is a de-facto integrative tool because of its coherent linkages with macroeconomic and biophysical models and with thematic databases. The ultimate product of LUISA is a set of territorial indicators that can be grouped and combined according to the ‘function’ of interest and/or to the sector under assessment.

model type

ownership

EU ownership (European Commission)
Fully owned by JRC.

licence

Licence type
Non-Free Software licence

homepage

https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/luisa

details on model structure and approach

The LUISA Territorial Modelling Platform is a system of sub-models designed to assess, ex-ante, the territorial implications of policy decisions. LUISA is composed of multiple interconnected modules that enable it to:

  1. Downscale national and regional information at a finer spatial scale
  2. Compile, harmonize and relate datasets from various sources
  3. Simulate future Land Functions, population distribution and accessibility at a 100m pixel resolution
  4. Bring together information relative to future Land Functions and other sources to produce a range of over 50 indicators
  5. Share model results to external users and provide them with a capacity to analyse results (Urban Data Platform Plus)

The LUISA territorial modelling framework has the capacity to work across spatial scales with various levels of detail and its outputs can be aggregated at any spatial level (from pixel to national scale). For policy support, LUISA’s strength lies in its ability to assess impacts of EU policies that play out because of local interactions between sectors and therefore cannot be observed with typically sector-oriented, spatially-coarse impact assessment approaches.

 

model inputs

LUISA links specialized models and data within a coherent workflow.

The resource-demand module uses the following outputs to drive the allocation of activities and services:

  • demographic (EUROPOP 2008, 2010, 2013 and updates) and
  • economic projections (from ECFIN and/or from models such as: CAPRI, GEM-E3, RHOMOLO and others)

The allocation module uses a number of spatially explicit parameters at different resolutions (1 x 1 km, 100 x 100 m) in order to define an overall suitability for every modelled land use/cover type. These individual input are called factor maps.

LUISA integrates factor maps related to

  • accessibility measures 
  • land and soil characteristics and
  • topography

In addition, the neighbourhood interactions between land use types are taken into account dynamically, as the land use patterns evolve and change through time.

The definition of policy options requires the development of a range of parameters, which take into account both

  • location specific policies (e.g.: demand for each land use class, zoning maps, region-specific support measures, etc.) and
  • the characteristics of land-use dynamics (e.g.: transition rules, neighbourhood effects, attractiveness etc.).

The actual conversion from the land-use state to a land use state in tn+1 for each location is based on the most suitable land use type for that specific location at that specific time. The land use state in t0 is given by the LUISA Base Map 2012 (currently updated to 2018) derived by a refined version of the CORINE Land Cover map of  2012of 2012.

model outputs

The main direct outputs of LUISA are:

  • a simulated map of the land use/cover for a given year in the future;
  • projected population maps at high geographical resolution 
  • detailed accessibility maps

The combination of direct outputs with other data layers and with thematic models further allow the computation of a wide range of indicators, representing the simulated land functions.

Output indicators can be grouped acccording to specific definition of land functions, e.g.:

  • Economic development
  • Demography (including age-class projections)
  • Provision of products
  • Settlement and infrastructures
  • Transport and Accessibility
  • Resource Efficiency
  • Environment and Climate
  • Urban and Regional Development

Direct outputs and computed indicators can be aggregated at different geographical level (NUTS or grid based).

model spatial-temporal resolution and extent

ParameterDescription
Spatial Extent/Country Coverage
EU Member states 27ALL countries of Europe
LUISA is prepared to make simulations for all EU Member states 27 and UK. It can be set to run individual NUTS1/NUTS2 or individual countries alone. In addition, the model can run all EU Member states 27 and UK by batching all countries-runs. Each NUTS2 is dealt as a single allocation problems, and results for all Europe are the aggregation of the individual results obtained for each NUTS2. Consequently, it is actually possible to work with irregular regions of interest, composed of any configuration of NUTS2. The model is being extended to cover new Member States of the European Union or to other neighbour countries of interest for which CORINE Land Cover 2012 (or comparable map) is available. A specific version of LUISA has been applied for the whole African continent.
Spatial Resolution
NationalSub-national (NUTS2)Sub-national (NUTS3)Sub-national (other)MunicipalityRegular Grid < 1kmRegular Grid 1km - 10km
Temporal Extent
Long-term (more than 15 years)
The land allocation module of LUISA requires a calibration which is based on the observed/historical land use/cover changes, as reported by the CORINE Land Cover set of maps (1990, 2000, 2006 and 2012). As currently configured, the allocation module runs from 2015, producing yearly results up to 2050. However, the runs can be extended 10 or 20 more years as long as demand is provided for the land use/cover types of interest.
Temporal Resolution
YearsMultiple years