E-An Zen 1983 <div class="abstract-content"><div class="abstract" data-abstract-type="text-abstract"><p>Planning for the best use of land and its resources should take fully into consideration the long-term consequences of each type of use in order to stretch out most beneficially the well-being of society in the future, and to protect the integrity of the land and its biota. Three kinds of land-use can be distinguished for planning purposes.<span>&nbsp;</span><span class="italic">Reversible</span><span>&nbsp;</span>land-use leaves the land, after use, essentially as it was before; little or no man-induced modification remains. An example of reversible use in the United States is the designation of certain public lands as Wilderness.<span>&nbsp;</span><span class="italic">Terminal</span><span>&nbsp;</span>land-use commits the land to a chosen particular use, and any attempt at reversal requires either time-scales that are long compared with the expected lifespan of the social and political institution, or a commitment of resources that is too high for society to consider worth bearing. Examples of terminal land-use are location of metropolises and sites of toxic and/or radioactive waste disposals; by its nature the list grows monotonically. A current source of some social tension arises from the fact that Wilderness designation appears to assign a terminal-use status by legislative fiat, whereas in fact the land is being used reversibly.</p></div></div> application/pdf 10.1017/S0376892900012182 en Cambridge University Press Land-use planning: One geologist's viewpoint article