page_title: Land development
section_title: Conversion to building land
hierarchical_section_title: Land development / Conversion of landforms / Conversion to building land
caption_attribution_description: English: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Europe District recently completed a community center for children with special needs in Varvarin, Serbia. The $444,000 project is one of several district-managed construction and renovation projects in the Balkans funded by the U.S. European Command Humanitarian Assistance Program.
context_page_description: Land development is altering the landscape in any number of ways such as:
  Changing landforms from a natural or semi-natural state for a purpose such as agriculture or housing
  Subdividing real estate into lots, typically for the purpose of building homes
  Real estate development or changing its purpose, for example by converting an unused factory complex into condominia.
context_section_description: Conversion to building land is as a rule associated with road building, which in itself already brings topsoil abrasion, soil compaction and modification of the soil's chemical composition through soil stabilization, creation of impervious surfaces and, subsequently, (polluted) surface runoff water.
  Construction activity often effectively seals off a larger part of the soil from rainfall and the nutrient cycle, so that the soil below buildings and roads is effectively "consumed" and made infertile.
  With the notable exception of attempts at rooftop gardening and hanging gardens in green buildings (possibly as constituents of green urbanism), vegetative cover of higher plants is lost to concrete and asphalt surfaces, complementary interspersed garden and park areas notwithstanding.
caption: Building construction
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