1. Land Use and Urbanization

2. Essential Questions in this Lesson
What are different land usages?
What are some local land usages?
Describe the impact of human activities on the land.
What are some local and federal laws governing land usage?

3. Most people used to live like this

4. Increasingly people live like this.

6. Major Urban Regions in U.S.

7. For the first time in history, there are now more urban residents than rural residents – shown here in this amazing image taken from space of city lights at night.

8. Land Use and Land Cover
Land cover: Vegetation and structures that cover land.
Land use: Human activities that occur on land
Humans change land cover, especially in urban areas. These changes have environmental and economic effects

9. What are some land uses and cover in Concord?

10. What does this pie chart tell us?
What is largest land use in U.S.?

11. What do these bar graphs show us?

12. Urban vs. Rural
Urban: Land mostly covered with buildings and roads (includes suburbs)
Rural: Any other type of land use or land cover (includes forests, cropland, etc.)

14. According to this map, is NC mostly urban or rural today?

17. Urbanization Occurs when people move from rural areas to cities
Cities are not new, but the enormous size of today’s cities is. More than 20 cities have at least 10 million residents.

18. Why are people moving to cities and leaving rural life behind?
SHOULD WE CARE?

19. Environmental Costs of Urbanization
Pollution: Increased waste, industrial byproducts, noise pollution, light pollution
What is noise pollution? Light pollution?

20. Noise Pollution

21. Light Pollution
What the night should look like.

22. Environmental Costs of Urbanization
Heat islands: Cities, several degrees warmer than surrounding areas, affect local weather and trap pollutants
WHY?

25. What can cities do to reduce this impact?

26. Environmental Costs of Urbanization
Imported resources: Fossil fuels are burned to import food, water, fuel, and raw materials.

27. Environmental Benefits of Urbanization
What do you think are some environmental benefits of cities?

28. Environmental Benefits of Urbanization
Efficiency: Less fuel and resources needed to distribute goods and services to residents
Universities and research centers: Urban areas tend to foster education and innovation.
Land Preservation: Dense urban centers leave room for agriculture, wilderness, biodiversity, and privacy.

29. Sprawl Goals Describe what contributes to sprawl and its patterns.
Explain the impacts of sprawl.

30. Los Angeles, CA, is one the most sprawling U.S. cities.

31. In 1950, 65% of the U.S. population lived in urban (including suburban) areas, while 35% lived rurally. In 2010, 89% was urban and only 11% rural.

34. What is sprawl?
The spread of low-density urban or suburban development outward from a dense urban core
Often, growth of suburban areas outpaces population growth because suburbs allow more space per person than cities

35. Primary Contributors to Sprawl
Population Growth
Increase per capita land use
Cheap gasoline
Decay of inner cities
Cheaper to build new than rebuild (less expensive land)

36. Primary Contributors to Sprawl
6) Improved road system 7) Affordable cars 8) Government subsidies of mortgages, infrastructure projects

37. Contributors to Sprawl

38. Patterns of Sprawl Uncentered commercial strip development
Low-density single-use residential development
Scattered, or leapfrog, development
Sparse street network

39. Per Capita Land Consumption

40. Why care about sprawl?

41. Impacts of Sprawl Transportation: Little to no public transportation
Must use car to get anything
Air pollution

42. Impacts of Sprawl
Public health: May promote inactivity, and by extension obesity and high blood pressure

43. Impacts of Sprawl
Land Use: Less land left as open space, forests, and farms
Habitat destruction and fragmentation
Farmland destroyed
Road kill
Soil erosion

45. Impacts of Sprawl
Economics: Wealth tending to concentrate in suburbs, leaving urban areas poor
Decline of town centers

47. Impacts of Sprawl Water Pollution Wetland Destruction Increased runoff
Increased flooding risk

49. Essential Questions in this Lesson
What are different land usages?
What are some local land usages?
Describe the impact of human activities on the land.
What are some local and federal laws governing land usage?