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Almost 48% of the land within the current City limits is residential. The center of the City contains a large proportion of commercial, office and University of Michigan land uses. The Briarwood Shopping Center and surrounding area south of the central business district also accounts for a large share of commercial and office uses. The combined office, commercial and industrial land accounts for 14% of the land in Ann Arbor, up from 8.6% in 2000. The remainder of similar land uses are scattered throughout the City but are generally concentrated along major thoroughfares and freeway interchanges. There is no heavy manufacturing in the City and most light industry is along the railroad tracks that bisect the City north to south. Research uses, important to Ann Arbor, are divided between the south area, just south of the I-94 freeway, and the northeast area, south of Plymouth Road near the University's North Campus.
Source: SEMCOG Community Profiles
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Land Use / Land Cover ( View Detailed Land Use Summary) |
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Land Use Type |
1990 Acres |
2000 Acres |
|
|
|
Single-Family * |
6,389 (37%) |
6,803 (39%) |
|
Multiple-Family |
1,346 (8%) |
1,560 (9%) |
|
Commercial and Office |
1,304 (7%) |
1,321 (8%) |
|
Institutional |
1,768 (10%) |
1,805 (10%) |
|
Industrial |
923 (5%) |
1,047 (6%) |
|
Transportation, Communication, and Utility |
428 (2%) |
432 (2%) |
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Cultural, Outdoor Recreation, and Cemetery |
1,339 (8%) |
1,438 (8%) |
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Active Agriculture |
369 (2%) |
160 (1%) |
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Grassland and Shrub |
1,520 (9%) |
911 (5%) |
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Woodland and Wetland |
1,352 (8%) |
1,224 (7%) |
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Extractive and Barren |
0 (0%) |
0 (0%) |
|
Water |
573 (3%) |
577 (3%) |
|
Under Development ** |
157 (1%) |
190 (1%) |
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Total Acres *** |
17,468 |
17,468 |
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* - Single-Family land use: areas of single-family houses, and also includes manufactured housing, farmsteads, and portions of developing single-family residential.
** - Under Development: includes two types of areas, 1. The acreage not built on in areas where new residential construction is partially completed, and 2. Areas where ground breaking has occurred and no land use type could be determined.
*** - 1990 and 2000 total acres may not be the same due to rounding errors and precision differences between 1990 and 2000 GIS layers.
Source: SEMCOG Community Profiles
A more detailed land use breakdown is available on the SEMCOG Web site |
What is land use?
Land use is defined as the way land is developed and used, in terms of the kinds of anthropogenic activities that occur (e.g., agriculture, residential areas, industrial areas). A given area of land may be used for a variety of purposes such as agriculture, timber, wildlife, recreation, or conservation. However, not all ecosystems have equal capability to satisfy a particular human value, and some are better suited for some uses than others. Decisions about land allocation are critical for both the environment and human society.
Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
How does land use distribution affect our environment?
Humans are the major force of change around the globe, transforming land to provide food, shelter, and products for use. Land transformation affects many of the planet’s physical, chemical, and biological systems and directly impacts the ability of the Earth to continue providing the goods and services upon which humans depend. A critical challenge for land use and management
involves reconciling conflicting goals and uses of the land.
The diverse goals for use of the land include:
- resource-extractive activities (e.g., forestry,. agriculture, grazing, and mining);
- infrastructure for human settlement (housing,. transportation, and industrial centers);
- recreational activities
- services provided by ecological systems (e.g, flood control and water supply and filtration);
support of aesthetic, cultural, and religious values;
- sustaining the compositional and structural complexity of ecological systems.
These goals often conflict with one another, and difficult land-use decisions may develop as stakeholders pursue different land-use goals. Local versus broad-scale perspectives on the benefits and costs of land management also provide different views.
To meet the challenge of sustaining ecological systems, an ecological perspective should be incorporated into land-use and land-management decisions.
Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and Ecological Society of America's Committee on Land Use
More information