Mixed Settlements

Mixed Settlements Anthromes map and timeline (10,000 BCE to 2017 CE)

1.4%

of land area

6.4%

of global population

3.0%

of food calories

1.6%

of key biodiversity areas

1.3%

of protected areas

2.0%

of carbon storage

Suburbs, towns and rural settlements with high but fragmented populations

A mixed settlement anthrome is characterized by a mix of suburbs, residential, and rural land uses. It typically includes densely populated (≥100 persons per square kilometer) and built-up areas, but is not found within the village regions. These landscapes are often seen in areas where human populations have increased, leading to the expansion of cities and towns into surrounding farmland and natural areas. The mixed settlement anthrome has the fifth highest population and sixth highest caloric production, based on 2017 CE data. This anthrome has the fifth lowest land area, contributing low percentages to the global area of protected and key biodiversity areas. Mixed settlements represent a mosaic of settlement patterns and densities, characterized by high but fragmented populations. This anthrome ranks eleventh out of the twenty anthrome classes for carbon storage, likely due to the transition of vegetated land to developed land and the accompanying loss of native biomass.

Featured image attribution:
Nick Allen, CC BY-SA 4.0 Mixed Settlements anthrome surrounding Fitchburg, Massachusetts, USA. , via Wikimedia Commons

Suburbs, towns and rural settlements with high but fragmented populations

Anthromes