Land use diversity indices and change of mixed land uses in Iskandar Malaysia from 1980s to 2000s

Abstract

Diversity in the context of land use planning refers to as the variety of uses in land use and in land use planning, the success of diversity can be achieved through mixed use development. Although mixed land uses are popularly practised in mixed use development for the past decades, current land use practices have moved towards the separation of residential and non-residential type of land uses. Thus, this paper discusses the changes in mixed land use from 1980s to 2000s in Iskandar Malaysia, Johor. The study is aimed at identifying the level of land use diversity and its trend during the past few decades by using diversity indices, Simpsons Diversity Index (SDI) and Shannons Diversity Index (ShaDI). The results show that diversity indices have been on the decrease steadily but quicken beyond 2005.