Personal profile
Personal information
Peter Verburg is professor Environmental Spatial Analysis and leads the Environmental Geography group that is part of the Institute for Environmental Studies, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
Peter is named a Highly Cited Researcher, his publications being amongst the top 1% most cited in the Web of Science. Peter has established a leading position in the field of land use analysis and modelling. He has developed and applied a wide range of methods to analyze spatial patterns of land use at scales from local to global. Methods used in his research originate from different disciplines, including social sciences (interviews, participatory workshops, multi-level statistics, foresight and scenario studies), econometrics (efficiency analysis, spatial econometrics), geography (accessibility analysis, spatial modelling, remote sensing) and earth sciences (biogeochemical modelling).
Having worked with collaborators from this wide variety of fields Peter has established insight in the different disciplinary traditions and vocabularies which facilitates interdisciplinary collaboration. His work on regional and global scale land use modeling has resulted in one of the most frequently used land use models worldwide (CLUE). Peter is the former chair of the Global Land Programme of Future Earth and is actively involved in several EU-level research projects in the field of land use, sustainable city planning, climate change adaptation, rural development and ecosystem services. He has published over 300 peer-reviewed articles and several book chapters. He has organized workshops and post-graduate courses on the topic of land use modelling and ecosystem services.
Currently he is a member of the Earth Commission (www.earthcommission.org), a member of the Science-Policy Interface of UNCCD, and co-Editor-in-Chief of the journal Landscape and Urban Planning.
Expertise
Land change analysis, spatial analysis and modelling, landscape ecology, ecosystem services, interdisciplinary analysis of human-environment interactions, environmental decision making, scenarios, multi-functional land use, sustainable intensification, landscape aestetics.
Education
2000: PhD. Land Use Modelling, Wageningen University.
1996: MSc. Physical Geography, Wageningen University.
Professional employment history
- 2010-present: Professor Environmental Spatial Analysis, Institute for Environmental Studies, VU University Amsterdam
- 2009-2010: Senior Researcher at Alterra, WUR
- 2003-2010: Assistant professor, Land dynamics group, Wageningen University
- 2001-2003: Post-doc, Faculty of Geographical Sciences, Utrecht University
- 2000-2003: Post-doc, Laboratory of Soil Science and Geology, Wageningen University
- 1996-2000: Junior researcher, Department of Agronomy, Wageningen University
Publications
For an overview of my publications please visit my ResearchGate profile.
Ancillary activities
No ancillary activities
Ancillary activities are updated daily
Keywords
- Q Science
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
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SDG 15 Life on Land
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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
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Spatio-temporal changes in cropland system and its impacts on grain production in China
Tang, L., Verburg, P. H., Ke, X., Wang, C., Wu, S., Li, W. & Zhu, J., Feb 2026, In: Agricultural Systems. 232, p. 1-10 10 p., 104573.Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article › Academic › peer-review
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The Untapped Potential of Food Webs in Systematic Conservation Planning
O'Connor, L. M. J., Thuiller, W., Brose, U., Chenevois, É., Freund, C., Gauzens, B., Gaüzere, P., Graham, C., Harfoot, M., Hirt, M. R., Lavergne, S., Maiorano, L., Moilanen, A., Verburg, P. H., Visconti, P. & Pollock, L. J., Feb 2026, In: Conservation Letters. 19, 1, p. 1-16 16 p., e70002.Research output: Contribution to Journal › Review article › Academic › peer-review
Open Access -
Different dimensions of urbanization in East African cities and towns
Bakker, V., Verburg, P. H., Twongyirwe, R., Kyessi, A. & van Vliet, J., Dec 2025, In: Research in Globalization. 11, p. 1-9 9 p., 100324.Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article › Academic › peer-review
Open AccessFile5 Downloads (Pure) -
The combined effects of site susceptibility to invasion and fire on population dynamics of the invasive tree Acacia dealbata
Lima, C. G., Bastos, R., Cabral, J. A., Alves, P., Fernandes, P. M., Honrado, J. P., Kühn, I., Malta-Pinto, E., Marchante, E., Richardson, D. M., Santos, M., Verburg, P. H. & Vicente, J. R., Nov 2025, In: Biological Invasions. 27, 11, p. 1-21 21 p., 242.Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article › Academic › peer-review
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Mapping forest management regimes in Europe
Scherpenhuijzen, N., West, T. A. P., Debonne, N., Oostdijk, S., Adame, P., Astrup, R. & Verburg, P. H., 15 Oct 2025, In: Forest Ecology and Management. 594, p. 1-10 10 p., 122940.Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article › Academic › peer-review
Open Access
Courses
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BrightspotsCSA: Bright spots of climate smart agriculture – learning from high-performing farming systems (BrightspotsCSA)
Schulp, N. (Principal Investigator), Levers, C. (Project Researcher), Verkuil, L. (Project Researcher), Nooij, J. (Project Researcher) & Verburg, P. H. (Project Researcher)
1/04/22 → 31/03/27
Project: Research
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CONtract SOLutions for Effective and lasting delivery of agri-environmental-climate public goods by EU agriculture and forestry
Schulp, N. (Project Researcher), Harmanny, K. (Project Researcher), Verburg, P. H. (Principal Investigator), Hackbarth, T. X. (Project Researcher), Farokhi, A. (Project Researcher) & van Rosmalen, R. (Project Researcher)
1/05/19 → 31/10/22
Project: Research
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Monitoring tools
Schulp, N. (Principal Investigator) & Verburg, P. H. (Principal Investigator)
1/01/18 → 1/01/19
Project: Research
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Land-use change modelling capacity building for the Mekong region
Verburg, P. H. (Project Researcher) & van Vliet, J. (Principal Investigator)
1/04/14 → 1/07/17
Project: Research
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TURAS: Urban Resilience and Sustainability
Schrammeijer, B. (Project Researcher), Koks, E. (Project Researcher), de Moel, H. (Project Researcher), Schulze, K. (Project Researcher), Derkzen, M. (Project Researcher) & Verburg, P. H. (Principal Investigator)
1/10/11 → 1/10/16
Project: Research
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Advocacy work on fossil fuel collaborations in academia
Verdonk, P. (Participant), Schaumburg, J. (Participant), Kaupa, C. (Participant), Debonne, N. (Participant), Doci, E. (Participant), Lemaire, K. (Participant), Maas, I. (Participant), Wens, M. (Participant), Ossebaard, H. (Participant), Leggett, J. (Participant), Verburg, P. H. (Participant), Pattberg, P. (Participant), Holland, M. (Participant), Iannuzzi, D. (Participant), Klaassen, P. (Participant), Kort, R. (Participant) & Blondeel, M. (Participant)
1 Jan 2023 → 15 Aug 2023Activity: Other
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Land use impacts of the Chinese 2035 biodiversity strategy
Malek, Ž. (Consultant), van Vliet, J. (Consultant), Verburg, P. H. (Consultant) & Khazieva, E. (Consultant)
2021 → 2022Activity: Consultancy
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Land use modeling for the Integrated economic-environmental modeling + Ecosystem Services Modeling Platform
Malek, Ž. (Consultant), Zagaria, C. (Consultant), Goodwin, S. (Consultant) & Verburg, P. H. (Consultant)
2020 → 2022Activity: Consultancy
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Ecosystem accounting geospatial data support
Malek, Ž. (Consultant), Verburg, P. H. (Consultant) & Schulze, K. (Consultant)
2019 → 2021Activity: Consultancy
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Climate change impacts on Fairtrade farmers
Malek, Ž. (Consultant), Parra Paitan, C. (Consultant) & Verburg, P. H. (Consultant)
2019 → 2021Activity: Consultancy
Datasets
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Replication Data for: Comparing the spatial structure of cities in East Africa, Europe and the United States of North America
Rosier, J. (Creator), Verburg, P. H. (Creator) & van Vliet, J. (Creator), DataverseNL, 2025
DOI: 10.34894/PW28GH, https://dataverse.nl/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=doi:10.34894/PW28GH
Dataset / Software: Dataset
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Pantropical distribution of short-rotation woody plantations under current and future climate
Schulze, K. (Creator), Malek, Ž. (Creator), Schepaschenko, D. (Creator), Lesiv, M. (Creator), Fritz, S. (Creator) & Verburg, P. H. (Creator), DataverseNL, 18 May 2023
DOI: 10.34894/T3A3RM
Dataset / Software: Dataset
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Land degradation data for Central Asia
Khazieva, E. (Creator), Malek, Ž. (Creator) & Verburg, P. H. (Creator), DataverseNL, 26 Jun 2023
DOI: 10.34894/E3YYWC
Dataset / Software: Dataset
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Data and model for simulating land system changes in China (2015-2050)
Wang, Y. (Creator), van Vliet, J. (Creator), Debonne, N. (Creator), Pu, L. (Creator) & Verburg, P. H. (Creator), DataverseNL, 2021
DOI: 10.34894/O8ZHGT, https://doi.org/10.34894/O8ZHGT
Dataset / Software: Dataset
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Spatial distribution of climate change impacts on Fairtrade and overall tropical agricultural commodity producing areas
Malek, Z. (Creator), Verburg, P. (Creator) & Malek, Z. (Contributor), DataverseNL, 2022
DOI: 10.34894/k6ma3f, https://dataverse.nl/citation%3FpersistentId=doi:10.34894/K6MA3F
Dataset / Software: Dataset