1. Land Section #1: How We Use Land

2. How Can We Find Out How Land is Used? Maps Aerial photographs Field surveys Computerized mapping systems

3. What Do We Use Land For? Farming Mining Building cities Highways Recreation Preserved areas

4. Land Cover what you find on a patch of land – depends on how the land is used Examples: –Forest –Fields of grain/crops –Parking lots

5. Urban vs. Rural Urban – covered mainly with buildings & roads US Census Bureau defines an urban area as one that contains 2500 or more people & usually has a governing body such as a city council Rural – land that contains relatively few people & has large areas of open space

6. Primary Land-Use Categories

7. Patterns & Trends until 1850 & the Industrial Revolution, most people lived in rural areas urban areas grew rapidly in the 20 th century because of the inventions of machines that took away many jobs in rural areas & because of better transportation

8. Urban & Rural Areas

9. Proportion of People Living in Urban & Rural Areas Around the World

10. The Urban-Rural Connection no matter where you live, people depend on resources produced in rural areas –clean drinking water –fertile soil & land for crops –trees for wood & paper –oxygen (from plants) for breathing these things are called ecosystem services

11. Examples of Ecosystem Services

12. How Much Land Do You Need? called your ecological footprint the area of rural land needed to support one person depends on many factors –climate –standard of living –efficiency of resource use –technology overall, people of developed countries use much more land per person than people of developing countries