Evolutionary Multi-objective Optimization for landscape system design

Increasing recognition of the extent and speed of habitat fragmentation and loss, particularly in the urban fringe, is driving the need to analyze qualitatively and quantitatively regional landscape structures in land-use planning and environmental policy implementation. This paper introduces an Evolutionary Multi-objective Optimization (EMO) methodology to estimate the Pareto optimal set of landscape designs generated from a series of underlying ecological principles. The results of applying these principles via EMO to a study site are presented and a hierarchical clustering methodology is introduced to assist in evaluating the population of solutions generated.