1. Land
How do we use it?

2. Urban Rural Land that is covered with buildings and roads.
City – Definitions vary
5,000 people per square mile
U.N. estimates by 2025, 67% of world population will live in urban areas.
Rural
Land that contains relatively few people and large areas of open space.

3. Land Use in the United States
Urban – 6% Cropland – 20% Rangeland – 26% Forest – 28% Parks – 13% Other – 7%
46% for food production

4. Where We Live Before 1850: Mostly rural, subsistence farmers
After 1850: Shift to urban centers
Urbanization – The movement of people from rural areas to cities
Why do people move from the country to a city:?
1980: 75% of U.S. population classified as urban
Urban people rely on rural areas for sustenance

5. Ecosystem Services
The resources produced in rural areas that urban populations depend on
Oxygen
Water
Food Production
Trees for Construction, Paper
Minerals for Manufacturing

6. Megalopolis The region from Boston to Washington D. C.
One extended urban center
4 of the 7 largest metropolitan areas
Boston, NYC, Philly, D.C.
First described in 1961
Greek for “Very Large City”
Population 44,000,000
16% of U.S. population

7. Megalopolis

8. World’s Largest Urban Areas
1. Tokyo, Japan - 34,100,00 2. Mexico City, Mexico - 22,650, Seoul, South Korea - 22,250, New York, United States - 21,850, Sao Paulo, Brazil - 20,200, Mumbai, India - 19,700, Dehli, India - 19,500, Los Angeles, United States - 17,950, Shanghai, China - 17,900, Jakarta, Indonesia - 17,150, Osaka, Japan - 16,800, Kolkata, India - 15,550, Cairo, Egypt - 15,450, Manila, Philippines - 14,850, Karachi, Pakistan - 14,100, Moscow, Russia - 13,750, Buenos Aires, Argentina - 13,400, Dhaka, Bangladesh - 13,100, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - 12,100, Beijing, China - 11,950,000
World’s Largest Urban Areas

9. Urban Crisis
When a city grows faster than the infrastructure can support.
Urban Sprawl – The rapid expansion of a city into the countryside
Development of marginal lands

10. Heat Island Urban areas are hotter than surrounding rural areas
Ave. 1.8o-5.4o
Up to 22o at night
Impacts:
Increased energy consumption
Increased air pollution
Compromised human health and comfort
Impaired water quality

11. Public Land
650,000,000 acres
30% of land in U.S.

12. National Parks 84,000,000 acres Yellowstone - 1872
Recreation, conservation
275,000,000 visitors
392 parks, monuments, seashores, national recreation areas, battlefields, historic monuments, rivers

13. National Wildlife Refuges
92,000,000 acres
48,000,000 visitors
300 refuges
Conservation
98% of all people in U. S. live within a 1 hour drive of a NWF

14. Bureau of Land Management
253,000,000 surface acres
700,000,000 subsurface acres
13% of land in U.S.
40% of federal land
Commercial use
Mining
Grazing
Recreation

15. National Forests 193,000,000 acres Texas Commercial use, recreation
Forests and grasslands

16. Bureau of Indian Affairs
55,000,000 acres
Department of Defense
30,000,000 acres

17. The Palm Islands