The South Florida Ecosystem Portfolio Model: A Web-Enabled Multicriteria Land Use Planning Decision Support System

The South Florida Ecosystem Portfolio Model (EPM) prototype is a regional land use planning web tool that integrates ecological, economic, and social information and values of relevance to decision-makers and stakeholders. The EPM uses a multi-attribute evaluation framework that builds on GIS analysis and spatially-explicit models that characterize a wide array of important ecological, economic, and societal endpoints and consequences that are sensitive to regional land use/cover change. The EPM uses both monetized and non-monetized (multi-attribute utility) approaches to valuing these endpoints and consequences. By integrating a broad set of stakeholder values, from natural habitat preservation to storm surge concerns, the EPM allows on-line users to explore land use consequences and trade-offs that are often overlooked in public discourse. The EPM is designed to be used as an on-line decision support system for sustainable land use planning in South Florida. The EPM can be used directly by land use planning stakeholders or as part of a facilitated participatory decision process. The current prototype is implemented for Miami-Dade County, Florida.