Environmental consequences of peri-urban expansion under different land use and climate scenarios

Abstract

This PhD portfolio presents four papers which examine how environmental impacts at the peri-urban interface compare under different housing and fresh food production land use scenarios for Sydney, Australia. Combined environmental impacts from urban expansion for housing replacing peri-urban horticultural farms may be significant: urban and agricultural emissions represent almost half of global anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Expansion of housing onto peri-urban cropland may additionally displace fresh food production to more remote locations. Such expansion could increase environmental burdens in other sectors and locations in order to continue to feed growing urban populations; however, the built environment and fresh food production are typically viewed as separate entities. Crucially, how peri-urban regions are urbanised may contribute to the capacity of cities to mitigate climate change and other environmental impacts. Using housing and fresh food production land use scenarios, the principle of environmental accounting for both horticultural change and housing development at the peri-urban interface was examined.

Date of Award	2018
Original language	English