Urban land teleconnections and sustainability

TY - JOUR

T1 - Urban land teleconnections and sustainability

AU - Seto, Karen

AU - Reenberg, Anette

AU - Boone, Christopher G.

AU - Fragkias, Michail

AU - Haase, Dagmar

AU - Langanke, Tobias

AU - Marcotullio, Peter

AU - Munroe, Darla K.

AU - Olah, Banislav

AU - Simon, David

PY - 2012/5/15

Y1 - 2012/5/15

N2 - This paper introduces urban land teleconnections as a conceptual framework that explicitly links land changes to underlying urbanization dynamics. We illustrate how three key themes that are currently addressed separately in the urban sustainability and land change literatures can lead to incorrect conclusions and misleading results when they are not examined jointly: the traditional system of land classification that is based on discrete categories and reinforces the false idea of a rural-urban dichotomy; the spatial quantification of land change that is based on place-based relationships, ignoring the connections between distant places, especially between urban functions and rural land uses; and the implicit assumptions about path dependency and sequential land changes that underlie current conceptualizations of land transitions. We then examine several environmental "grand challenges" and discuss how urban land teleconnections could help research communities frame scientific inquiries. Finally, we point to existing analytical approaches that can be used to advance development and application of the concept.

AB - This paper introduces urban land teleconnections as a conceptual framework that explicitly links land changes to underlying urbanization dynamics. We illustrate how three key themes that are currently addressed separately in the urban sustainability and land change literatures can lead to incorrect conclusions and misleading results when they are not examined jointly: the traditional system of land classification that is based on discrete categories and reinforces the false idea of a rural-urban dichotomy; the spatial quantification of land change that is based on place-based relationships, ignoring the connections between distant places, especially between urban functions and rural land uses; and the implicit assumptions about path dependency and sequential land changes that underlie current conceptualizations of land transitions. We then examine several environmental "grand challenges" and discuss how urban land teleconnections could help research communities frame scientific inquiries. Finally, we point to existing analytical approaches that can be used to advance development and application of the concept.

U2 - 10.1073/pnas.1117622109

DO - 10.1073/pnas.1117622109

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 22550174

SN - 0027-8424

VL - 109

SP - 7687

EP - 7692

JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

IS - 20

ER -