Trends in United States Human Footprint Revealed by New Spatial Metrics of Urbanization and Per Capita Land Change

Accelerations in population growth and urban expansion are transforming landscapes worldwide and represent a major sustainability challenge. In the United States, land conversion to impervious surfaces has outpaced population increases, yet there are few spatial metrics of urbanization and per capit...

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Autores principales:	John B. Vogler, Jelena Vukomanovic
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	MDPI AG 2021
Materias:	housing density impervious surface land-use efficiency per capita land consumption sustainable development Environmental effects of industries and plants TD194-195 Renewable energy sources TJ807-830 Environmental sciences GE1-350
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/52abc3f29bc64da6ad36baf94f40d66b
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:52abc3f29bc64da6ad36baf94f40d66b2021-11-25T19:04:56ZTrends in United States Human Footprint Revealed by New Spatial Metrics of Urbanization and Per Capita Land Change10.3390/su1322128522071-1050https://doaj.org/article/52abc3f29bc64da6ad36baf94f40d66b2021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/22/12852https://doaj.org/toc/2071-1050Accelerations in population growth and urban expansion are transforming landscapes worldwide and represent a major sustainability challenge. In the United States, land conversion to impervious surfaces has outpaced population increases, yet there are few spatial metrics of urbanization and per capita land change available nationwide for assessing local to regional trends in human footprint. We quantified changes (2000–2010) in housing density, imperviousness, per capita land consumption, and land-use efficiency for block groups of the contiguous U.S. and examined national patterns and variation in these metrics along the urban–rural gradient and by megaregion. Growth in housing (+13.6%) and impervious development (+10.7%) resulted in losses of rural lands, primarily due to exurbanization and suburbanization. Mean per capita consumption increased in all density classes but was over 8.5 times greater in rural lands than in exurban, suburban, and urban areas. Urban and suburban areas had significantly lower mean consumption, yet change was unsustainable in 60% of these areas. Megaregions across the sprawling Sun Belt, spanning from Arizona to North Carolina, grew most unsustainably, especially compared to regions in the Pacific Northwest and Front Range. This work establishes 21st-century benchmarks that decision-makers can use to track local and regional per capita land change and sustainable growth in the U.S.; however, these metrics of the form, extent, rate, and efficiency of urbanization can be applied anywhere concurrent built-up area and population data are available over time. Our web mapping application allows anyone to explore spatial and temporal trends in human footprint and download metrics, and it is designed to be easily updatable with future releases of validated developed land cover, protected areas, and decennial Census data.John B. VoglerJelena VukomanovicMDPI AGarticlehousing densityimpervious surfaceland-use efficiencyper capita land consumptionsustainable developmentEnvironmental effects of industries and plantsTD194-195Renewable energy sourcesTJ807-830Environmental sciencesGE1-350ENSustainability, Vol 13, Iss 12852, p 12852 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	housing density impervious surface land-use efficiency per capita land consumption sustainable development Environmental effects of industries and plants TD194-195 Renewable energy sources TJ807-830 Environmental sciences GE1-350
spellingShingle	housing density impervious surface land-use efficiency per capita land consumption sustainable development Environmental effects of industries and plants TD194-195 Renewable energy sources TJ807-830 Environmental sciences GE1-350 John B. Vogler Jelena Vukomanovic Trends in United States Human Footprint Revealed by New Spatial Metrics of Urbanization and Per Capita Land Change
description	Accelerations in population growth and urban expansion are transforming landscapes worldwide and represent a major sustainability challenge. In the United States, land conversion to impervious surfaces has outpaced population increases, yet there are few spatial metrics of urbanization and per capita land change available nationwide for assessing local to regional trends in human footprint. We quantified changes (2000–2010) in housing density, imperviousness, per capita land consumption, and land-use efficiency for block groups of the contiguous U.S. and examined national patterns and variation in these metrics along the urban–rural gradient and by megaregion. Growth in housing (+13.6%) and impervious development (+10.7%) resulted in losses of rural lands, primarily due to exurbanization and suburbanization. Mean per capita consumption increased in all density classes but was over 8.5 times greater in rural lands than in exurban, suburban, and urban areas. Urban and suburban areas had significantly lower mean consumption, yet change was unsustainable in 60% of these areas. Megaregions across the sprawling Sun Belt, spanning from Arizona to North Carolina, grew most unsustainably, especially compared to regions in the Pacific Northwest and Front Range. This work establishes 21st-century benchmarks that decision-makers can use to track local and regional per capita land change and sustainable growth in the U.S.; however, these metrics of the form, extent, rate, and efficiency of urbanization can be applied anywhere concurrent built-up area and population data are available over time. Our web mapping application allows anyone to explore spatial and temporal trends in human footprint and download metrics, and it is designed to be easily updatable with future releases of validated developed land cover, protected areas, and decennial Census data.
format	article
author	John B. Vogler Jelena Vukomanovic
author_facet	John B. Vogler Jelena Vukomanovic
author_sort	John B. Vogler
title	Trends in United States Human Footprint Revealed by New Spatial Metrics of Urbanization and Per Capita Land Change
title_short	Trends in United States Human Footprint Revealed by New Spatial Metrics of Urbanization and Per Capita Land Change
title_full	Trends in United States Human Footprint Revealed by New Spatial Metrics of Urbanization and Per Capita Land Change
title_fullStr	Trends in United States Human Footprint Revealed by New Spatial Metrics of Urbanization and Per Capita Land Change
title_full_unstemmed	Trends in United States Human Footprint Revealed by New Spatial Metrics of Urbanization and Per Capita Land Change
title_sort	trends in united states human footprint revealed by new spatial metrics of urbanization and per capita land change
publisher	MDPI AG
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/52abc3f29bc64da6ad36baf94f40d66b
work_keys_str_mv	AT johnbvogler trendsinunitedstateshumanfootprintrevealedbynewspatialmetricsofurbanizationandpercapitalandchange AT jelenavukomanovic trendsinunitedstateshumanfootprintrevealedbynewspatialmetricsofurbanizationandpercapitalandchange
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Trends in United States Human Footprint Revealed by New Spatial Metrics of Urbanization and Per Capita Land Change

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