Urban pattern and land cover variation in the greater Toronto area

Abstract

Recent epistemological shifts in environmental geography have created a space to consider the interactions between ecological and urban systems more seriously. While openness to thinking about urban ecosystems has increased in recent years, there remain fundamental gaps in our knowledge. For example, recent research has examined the impact of urban–rural gradients on ecological conditions, but major voids exist regarding the relationship between urban development patterns and land cover heterogeneity, particularly for new forms of urbanization. This article attempts to address some of these gaps by examining the relationship between urban pattern and land cover in the greater Toronto area (GTA). In particular, measures of urban pattern that reflect aspects of development density, grain and function, as well as socio‐economic characteristics, are systematically analyzed in relation to land cover heterogeneity. The regression analysis shows that multiple components of urban development pattern and socio‐economic conditions are correlated with vegetated land covers, while urban density variables are not related. These results indicate more detailed representations of urban pattern should be incorporated into future human–environmental interaction studies in cities.