Land Section #1: How We Use Land. How Can We Find Out How Land is Used? Maps Aerial photographs...
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Transcript of Land Section #1: How We Use Land. How Can We Find Out How Land is Used? Maps Aerial photographs...
How Can We Find Out How Land is Used?
• Maps• Aerial photographs• Field surveys• Computerized mapping systems
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
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
Patterns & Trends
• until 1850 & the Industrial Revolution, most people lived in rural areas
• urban areas grew rapidly in the 20th century because of the inventions of machines that took away many jobs in rural areas & because of better transportation
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
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