Communities make land use decisions every day.
Take a look at areas surrounding large cities, in redeveloping downtown areas of older cities, and in the countryside and you ll see land use changes. Given the impact that humans have already had and continue to have on the land, a major challenge facing communities, both urban and rural, is how to plan for continued growth. The purpose of this activity is to evaluate past land use changes in a community and determine the impact of these changes on the land. Changes in communities can be easily seen by comparing historical aerial photographs to current ones. To make this activity most relevant to your students, try to use photos of your community.