Land Use Transitions

Dear Colleagues,

The last decades of the 20^th century and the first decades of the 21^st century have brought recognition that land surfaces are undergoing vast changes. These changes are driven by changes in human land-use and vary from place to place, and it is recognized by many that these changes are caused by multiple interconnected drivers and are multi-directional in scope. In some places, transitions encompass changes from forest to grassland, agricultural land, or to built-up land. Transitions in the opposite direction are observed in other locations, such as the transition of grasslands and agricultural lands to forest or to landscapes dominated by tree cover. Changes in urban areas have been documented as cities expand and previous open areas within cities are filled with new construction. These land-use transitions are also bringing into question how rural and urban are categorized, as some rural areas experience transitions to land-uses that have previously been conceptually categorized as urban in nature, while urban areas are seeing transitions to land-uses that are experienced in rural areas. Consequently, clear cut divisions between rural and urban areas and associated land-uses are being questioned. The drivers of these geographically disparate transitions are recognized as being both proximate and distal, and recent literature argues that teleconnections or telecouplings are involved in these transitions.

Land is sponsoring a Special Issue devoted to land-use transitions. In recent years, land-cover changes and land-use transitions associated with these changes have been accelerating around the world. This phenomenon is found across all sectors (e.g., rural, urban, peri-urban), and is often interconnected between the sectors through teleconnections and telecouplings. As part of this Special Issue, we would like to invite you to submit case studies investigating land-use transitions that you are studying and that are taking place within one of the sectors, or are telecoupled across sectors and/or geographic locations. The deadline for submission is 30 September 2019.

Assoc. Prof. Stephen J. Leisz
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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