Emerging Issues Along Urban/Rural Interfaces: Linking Land-Use Science and Society

"The pace of urbanization and land-use change is accelerating in many parts of the world, leading to rapidly changing environmental conditions along urban-rural interfaces, broadly speaking. In turn, these changing conditions are creating new ecological and societal challenges and opportunities. We seek to bring together researchers, practitioners, and policy makers to share current research results and to identify knowledge gaps regarding the interaction between urbanization, land-use change, and natural resources. In particular, approaches that focus on integrating socioeconomic and ecological research will be highlighted."Presentation will focus on the following topics:



How ecosystems are being altered by human influences: direct and indirect stressors,

Restoring/rehabilitating terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems altered by urbanization,

Evaluating changes to ecosystem goods and services along urban/rural gradients,

How disturbance regimes are altered through human influences along urban/rural gradients and subsequent risks to human and natural communities,

Monitoring and predicting human influences on landscapes and ecosystems,

How urbanization alters the characteristics of natural disturbances,

The relationship(s) between land-use policies and ecological processes/disturbances along wildland/urban interfaces,

Informing policy makers, natural resource professionals, and private citizens,

Spatial aspects and models of land-use change,

Ecosystem impacts on human communities (e.g., human health, economic well-being, political and social action),

Application of ecological research in land-use planning.

Urban agriculture"