TY - JOUR
T1 - Framing the search for a theory of land use
AU - Turner, B. L.
AU - Meyfroidt, Patrick
AU - Kuemmerle, Tobias
AU - Müller, Daniel
AU - Roy Chowdhury, Rinku
N1 - Funding Information:
This paper was stimulated by and contributes to the Global Land Programme ( https://glp.earth ), specifically its workshop devoted to land theory held in Weggis, Switzerland in March 2017, supported by the European Research Council under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (Grant agreement No 677140 MIDLAND [ https://erc-midland.earth ]). The content of the paper, however, is the product of the authors. We thank Marie-Hélène Grégoire (Misenpage Studio) for help on the initial version of the figures. We thank reviewers of this paper and previous drafts of it, especially Eric Lambin, Elena Irwin, and William C. Clark.
Funding Information:
This paper was stimulated by and contributes to the Global Land Programme (https://glp.earth), specifically its workshop devoted to land theory held in Weggis, Switzerland in March 2017, supported by the European Research Council under the European Union?s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (Grant agreement No 677140 MIDLAND [https://erc-midland.earth]). The content of the paper, however, is the product of the authors. We thank Marie-H?l?ne Gr?goire (Misenpage Studio) for help on the initial version of the figures. We thank reviewers of this paper and previous drafts of it, especially Eric Lambin, Elena Irwin, and William C. Clark.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2020/7/3
Y1 - 2020/7/3
N2 - Land system science and affiliated research linked to sustainability require improved understanding and theorization of land and its change as a social-ecological system (SES). The absence of a general land-use theory, anchored in the social subsystem but with explicit links to the environmental subsystem, hampers this effort. Drawing on land-use explanations, meta-analyses, and associated frameworks, we advance a broad framework structure of eight elements–aggregations of explanatory variables–with links to the biophysical subsystem, for systematic comparisons of extant explanations. Tests and models can be employed to identify which set of variables and their configurations provide robust explanations of across land uses, identifying the potential for theory development. The framework and its application are applicable to both top-down and bottom-up explanatory approaches employed in the social sciences. Links to the environmental subsystem invite future exploration of SES explanations that reach across the different dimensions of global change and sustainability science.
AB - Land system science and affiliated research linked to sustainability require improved understanding and theorization of land and its change as a social-ecological system (SES). The absence of a general land-use theory, anchored in the social subsystem but with explicit links to the environmental subsystem, hampers this effort. Drawing on land-use explanations, meta-analyses, and associated frameworks, we advance a broad framework structure of eight elements–aggregations of explanatory variables–with links to the biophysical subsystem, for systematic comparisons of extant explanations. Tests and models can be employed to identify which set of variables and their configurations provide robust explanations of across land uses, identifying the potential for theory development. The framework and its application are applicable to both top-down and bottom-up explanatory approaches employed in the social sciences. Links to the environmental subsystem invite future exploration of SES explanations that reach across the different dimensions of global change and sustainability science.
KW - Land-use/cover change
KW - explanatory chains
KW - land systems
KW - middle range theory
KW - social-ecological systems
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U2 - 10.1080/1747423X.2020.1811792
DO - 10.1080/1747423X.2020.1811792
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85090447028
SN - 1747-423X
VL - 15
SP - 489
EP - 508
JO - Journal of Land Use Science
JF - Journal of Land Use Science
IS - 4
ER -