Land Use Primer:
What are the main factors driving Land Use/Land Cover change?
Several studies have examined the social and economic factors that drive Land Use and Land Cover change. These include:
a) Population Growth or Decline: As a region’s population grows, the new residents need housing, as well as places to work and shop. In a region with declining population, there will be less new construction of homes and businesses.
b) Economic Growth: A booming regional economy will result in construction of new commercial and industrial buildings to house that activity. As the economy grows, the new jobs created will attract workers, leading to population growth, leading to construction of new homes and places to shop. As incomes rise, household may choose to build new larger homes on larger lots, leaving smaller, older houses vacant.
c) Demographics: The average number of people living in a household has been decreasing over time. Therefore, more housing units are needed to house the same number of people. The number of retired households is increasing, and these households tend to have few members. Meanwhile, the proportion of non-white households is also increasing. These households tend to have more members on average than white households.
d) Agricultural and forest prices: A change in the price of agricultural or forest products can affect landowners’ decisions whether to keep the land in those uses. Policies aimed at supporting agricultural prices provide an incentive to keep land in farming.
e) Regional and local planning and policies: Regions can influence the rate at which land use and land cover change through a variety of means. These are discussed in the next question.