Abstract
The Land Suitability Assessment System(LSAS) was introduced in 2002 under the Planning and Use of National Territory Act. It aims to prevent urban sprawl, and is divided into two types: Type I and II. TypeⅠ provides necessary data for breaking down the Management Zone into the Conservation, Agricultural and Development Management Zone. TypeⅡ is a method used for a simplified assessment of small scale development within the Zone where TypeⅠ has not covered. Although the two types are under the same system of the LSAS, they are significantly different in terms of the assessment criteria and methods to categorize the suitability class. The assessment criteria of TypeⅠare set by local governments using local data while TypeⅡ uses fixed assessment criteria by zone nationwide. Therefore, the assessment results of Type I are different from those of Type Ⅱ, which often do not sufficiently reflect the local characteristics. This paper analyses some of the problems Type II has, and presents several alternatives for enhancing the appropriateness of it. One of them is to set unified assessment criteria among local governments which can be used in both Type I and II. The paper develops a unified set of assessment criteria for A city, using the database of Type I, and uses it to assess the land suitability of the Agricultural Zone of the city. It has been found that when the unified criteria set was applied, the appropriateness of the assessment result increased greatly.