Usability of the Various Land Use Optimization Models for the Spatial Planning Purposes in the Republic of North Macedonia

The land use optimization process uses different models that generally belong to 2 groups: mathematical models and heuristics models. Variety of models shave been developed for various aims. Each of has its positive and negative sides, advantages and disadvantages. Aim of this research is to be defined usability of various land use model optimization for the purpose of spatial planning in the Republic of North Macedonia. The basic methodological tool in this chapter covers collection, study and comparative analysis of relevant literary data and evaluation of selected researches. In the absence of domestic literature, mostly literature from several countries from Europe, USA, Asia was analyzed. Then 17 models were selected for in detail analyze. To examine the possibilities of applying the optimization models described in the analyzed research. an evaluation was performed according to the following criteria: a) availability of the data used by the model, that is, the possibility of providing the data used in the model from official sources; b) number of optimization goals; c) number of land uses; d) local adaptability, which implies conformity of the goals, purposes, influencing factors, limitations and other specifics of the model with those in our conditions; e) scope of the research. More of the The reviewed papers on the analyzed optimization models and methods, marked by the authors, clearly indicate the fact or exceptional difficulty in determining the optimal land use model.