Urban-Rural Interfaces: Linking People and Nature

What is the urban–rural interface? Is it a visual phenomenon, a place where country gives way to neighborhoods and shopping areas in a startling way? Is it a simple factor of population density? There is nothing simple about the urban–rural interface―editors David Laband, Graeme Lockaby, and Wayne Zipperer present the broad spectrum of interdisciplinary complexities at play. Organized into three sections on changing ecosystems, changing human dimensions, and the dynamic integration of human and natural systems, this book is a must read for anyone who works in the real world, where natural and human systems are joined. This is the new sustainability science, an emerging discipline that integrates social and economic values with the physical, chemical, and ecological functions of ecosystems. The goal is optimal management, since our human impact is often significant and far-reaching in both space and time.

David N. Laband is the author of nine books, and his research and teaching interests cover a wide range of topics related to economics and policy. He was a Professor of Economics at Auburn University from 1994 to 2012, with a joint appointment in the School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences. Laband currently serves as Chair of the School of Economics at Georgia Institute of Technology.

Graeme Lockaby specializes in the study of floodplain forest biogeochemistry and the impacts of urbanization on water resources. In his current position at Auburn University as Director of the Center for Forest Sustainability, he facilitates interdisciplinary research focused on socioeconomic and ecologic implications of forest conversion to urban land uses.

Wayne C. Zipperer is a research forester with the USDA Forest Service. His research focuses on urbanization effects on ecosystem patterns and processes and natural resource management and evaluating how land use change interacts with social, economic, and ecological components in urban and urbanizing landscapes.