The livelihoods, economies, and landscapes in mining regions are significantly impacted by the closure and transition of coal mines. Recent policy developments in India indicate a shift toward more inclusive post-mining futures. However, community participation is still limited in practice, and decision-support tools continue to favor technical and expert-driven approaches. Building on insights from the existing literature on post-mining land use (PMLU) assessment approaches, this study suggests a three-phase, people-centric PMLU assessment framework intended to bridge the gap between spatial decision analysis and participatory engagement. The approach recommends (a) thorough site and stakeholder assessments to identify community needs; (b) social-ecological system mapping and causal-loop modeling to translate these priorities into possible land-use options; and (c) geographic information systems-multi-criteria decision analysis to assess the spatial suitability of shortlisted options based on expert-derived criteria. It preserves analytical rigor while emphasizing local knowledge and regional social-ecological dynamics to identify technically feasible, environmentally sound, and economically viable PMLUs, which also preserve sociocultural ties to the landscape.

Post-mining land use, geographic information systems-multi-criteria decision analysis, spatial decision-support, social-ecological systems

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