A mature land-system science has deepened its conceptualization of environment

Abstract

Human-environment relations are at the heart of the discipline of geography, arguably longer and more consistently than any other discipline. These engagements are by no means unified, coherent or internally consistent, however. Land-system science is a broad field encompassing central contributions by a wide range of geographers, but not only geographers. Formative principles in this field also trace to the legacies of political scientists, economists, landscape ecologists, and many others. What is notable upon reflection, however, is how conceptualization and study of land systems over the last three decades have reflected maturity in thinking about the nature, dimensions, and role of environment, from backdrop or setting, to outcome of human action, to mediator, to even as an agent of change, and to an inextricable part of a coupled social-ecological system, in ways that reflect trends in geography and beyond. In this paper, we provide a short history of the subfield/transdisciplinary field of land system science, note key conceptual and empirical turns in its maturation, and highlight the corresponding shifts and motivations in its engagement with the “environment.” We end with a final reflection on a research agenda buoyed by a new courage to find sustainably solutions, in partnership with local stakeholders, to counter to the new challenges presented by unprecedented climate change.