A Framework for Developing an Integrated Planning and Decision Support System for Land Consolidation D. Demetriou, J. Stillwell, L. See School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT Email: demdeme@cytanet.com.cy ; j.c.h.stillwell@leeds.ac.uk ; geolms@leeds.ac.uk 1. Introduction Land fragmentation is a major problem in many countries around the world. Traditionally, land consolidation has been the primary land management approach for effectively solving this problem, involving changes in land tenure and public infrastructure. Land reallocation is recognised as the most important, complex and time consuming process of land consolidation (Sonnenberg 2002; Essadiki et al. 2003; Van Dijk 2003; Thomas 2006; Ayranci 2007) and a literature review has indicated the requirement for developing integrated planning and decision support tools for land reallocation. This paper presents a framework for the development of a land consolidation integrated planning and decision support system for Cyprus. 2. Problem statement Land reallocation, sometimes referred to as land readjustment or reallotment, can be split into two main sub-processes: land distribution and land partitioning. Land distribution comprises the preparation of a preliminary plan which involves decision making regarding the general restructuring of parcels in terms of their number, ownership, size, land value and approximate location. It is based on legislation, the existing land tenure structure, rules of thumb and the experience of the planner. Land partitioning involves the subdivision of land into smaller „sub-spaces‟, i.e. land parcels, which is conventionally a trial and error process based on legislation, the existing land structure, empirical design criteria, constraints and rules of thumb. Both sub-processes involve the concept of evaluating alternative solutions to produce a near optimal land reallocation plan. In addition, the evaluation of existing land fragmentation and its consequences must precede land reallocation. These tasks can be used to formulate a major part of the ex-ante evaluation framework for land consolidation, which is a legal EU requirement for rural development programmes (European Commission 2004). 3. Related research Research in this area has been occurring since the 1960s (Rosman and Sonnenberg 1998) and significant progress has been made, especially with the development and application of GIS and other geoplanning tools. However, the support provided to the planner is still not sufficient as GIS does not have the capability to support complex spatial planning and decision-making problems (Carver 1991; Stillwell et al. 1999; Batty 2008; Geertman and Stillwell, 2009) such as land reallocation. The studies that have attempted to automate the problem of land distribution treat it as a mathematical optimisation problem (e.g. Kik 1990; Avci 1998; Ayranci 2007). Thus, although results are sometimes optimal in terms of efficiency, they are not realistic or applicable. Moreover, studies dealing with the land partitioning problem (Buis and Vingerhoeds 1996; Tourino et al. 2003) have produced operationally