Journal of Land Use Science

Land Use Transitions in a Metacoupling World: Flows, Disparities, and Social-Ecological Change

Human–environmental interactions are increasingly shaped by flows of land, trade, labour, food, information, migration, and ecological processes that cut across local, regional, and global scales. These connections, however, are experienced unequally—some places and people gain from investment, improved accessibility, and ecological restoration, while others bear the costs of land conversion, resource depletion, environmental risk, and uneven development.

This collection applies the metacoupling framework—which conceptualises interactions within, between, and among coupled human and natural systems—to advance understanding of how human–environmental integrated flows reshape land use disparately across space, scale, and social context, with particular attention to questions of social justice, inequality, and resilience.

We invite empirical, conceptual, and quantitative contributions from geography, land system science, environmental economics, sociology, ecology, and related fields. Case studies from diverse regional contexts, particularly from under-represented areas and different coupled systems, are highly welcome.