Habitat fragmented by numerous roads near the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. 'Land use' is also often used to refer to the distinct land use types in zoning.

Land use is the human use of land. Land use involves the management and modification of natural environment or wilderness into built environment such as fields pastures and settlements. It has also been defined as "the arrangements activities and inputs people undertake in a certain land cover type to produce change or maintain it" (FAO 1997a; FAO/UNEP 1999). 1 Contents 1 Land use and regulation 2 Land use and the environment 3 Urban growth boundaries 4 See also 5 References 6 External links Land use and regulation

Land use practices very considerably across the world. The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization Water Development Division explains that "Land use concerns the products and/or benefits obtained from use of the land as well as the land management actions (activities) carried out by humans to produce those products and benefits." 2 As of the early 1990s about 13% of the Earth was considered arable land with 26% in pasture 32% forests and woodland and 1.5% urban areas.

As Albert Guttenberg (1959) wrote many years ago "'Land use' is a key term in the language of city planning."3 Commonly political jurisdictions will undertake land use planning and regulate the use of land in an attempt to avoid land use conflicts. Land use plans are implemented through land division and use ordinances and regulations such as zoning regulations. A land use map of Europe major non-natural land uses include arable farmland (yellow) and pasture (light green) Land use and the environment

Land use and land management practices have a major impact on natural resources including water soil nutrients plants and animals. Land use information can be used to develop solutions for natural resource management issues such as salinity and water quality. For instance water bodies in a region that has been deforested or having erosion will have different water quality than those in areas that are forested.

The major effect of land use on land cover since 1750 has been deforestation of temperate regions.dead link4 More recent significant effects of land use include urban sprawl soil erosion soil degradation salinization and desertification.5 Land-use change together with use of fossil fuels are the major anthropogenic sources of carbon dioxide a dominant greenhouse gas.6

According to a report by the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation land degradation has been exacerbated where there has been an absence of any land use planning or of its orderly execution or the existence of financial or legal incentives that have led to the wrong land use decisions or one-sided central planning leading to over-utilization of the land resources - for instance for immediate production at all costs. As a consequence the result has often been misery for large segments of the local population and destruction of valuable ecosystems. Such narrow approaches should be replaced by a technique for the planning and management of land resources that is integrated and holistic and where land users are central. This will ensure the long-term quality of the land for human use the prevention or resolution of social conflicts related to land use and the conservation of ecosystems of high biodiversity value. The citadel of Kastellet Copenhagen that has been converted into a park showing multiple examples of suburban land use. Urban growth boundaries

The urban growth boundary is one form of land-use regulation. For example Portland Oregon is required to have an urban growth boundary which contains at least 20000 acres (81 km2) of vacant land. Additionally Oregon restricts the development of farmland. The regulations are controversial but an economic analysis concluded that farmland appreciated similarly to the other land.7 See also Activity level Building setback Easement Habitat destruction Journal of Land Use and Environmental Law Journal of Transport and Land Use Land Allocation Decision Support System Land cover Land Utilisation Survey of Britain Land use forecasting Land use land-use change and forestry Planning Traffic Urbanization Variance (land use) Urban studies UrbanSim Land Use Evolution and Impact Assessment Model Land use planning Land use conflict References IPCC Special Report on Land Use Land-Use Change And Forestry 2.2.1.1 Land Use FAO Land and Water Division retrieved 14 September 2010 JAPA 25:3 dead linkIntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change UN Land Degradation and Land Use/Cover Data Sources ret. 26 June 2007 UN Report on Climate Change retrieved 25 June 2007 from Web archive 1 Jaeker WG Plantinga AJ (2007). How have Land-use regulations Affected Property Values in Oregon OSU Extension. External links Guttenberg Albert Z. 1959. 'A Multiple Land Use Classification System' Journal of the American Planning Association 25: 3 143 150 Land use defined at Encyclopedia of Earth Land Use Law News Alert Land Use Law by Prof. Daniel R. Mandelker (Washington University in St. Louis School of Law) Land Use Accountability Project The Center for Public Integrity Schindler's Land Use Page (Michigan State University Extension Land Use Team) Land Policy Institute at Michigan State University Powell W. Gabe. 2009. Identifying Land Use/Land Cover (LULC) Using National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) Data as a Hydrologic Model Input for Local Flood Plain Management. Applied Research Project. Texas State University - San Marcos. http://ecommons.txstate.edu/arp/296/ Attorney.org's Top Land Use Law Blogs