Setting up a Land Use Cover Change model application for Greater Sydney. Lessons learnt and challenges ahead

This chapter presents a Land Use Cover Change (LUCC) model application developed for Greater Sydney. It aims to help decision making in the context of the strategic and spatial planning of Greater Sydney. To this end, the model simulates the dynamics of industrial, low density residential and medium-high density residential areas at spatial resolution of 100x100 m.A series of three Land Use Maps at 30m were specifically developed for the modelling exercise. They determine part of the exercise´s limitations, such as the model simplicity and the short timeframe of the simulation (2006-2011-2016). Future efforts should focus on the simulation of population and job growth, exchanges between regions and the application of the model for scenario analysis and impact assessment.All data of the modelling exercise are openly available at the CityData portal of the City Futures Research Centre.