![]() Annual growth in GDP per capita drives approximately half of the observed urban land expansion in China but only moderately affects urban expansion in India and Africa, where urban land expansion is driven more by urban population growth. Across all regions and for all three decades, urban land expansion rates are higher than or equal to urban population growth rates, suggesting that urban growth is becoming more expansive than compact. ![]() India, China, and Africa have experienced the highest rates of urban land expansion, and the largest change in total urban extent has occurred in North America. We report a worldwide observed increase in urban land area of 58,000 km 2 from 1970 to 2000. Here we present a meta-analysis of 326 studies that have used remotely sensed images to map urban land conversion. It drives the loss of farmland, affects local climate, fragments habitats, and threatens biodiversity. The conversion of Earth's land surface to urban uses is one of the most irreversible human impacts on the global biosphere.
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