Toolbox: Spatial Analysis and Modelling

Wherever land-use change occurs, empirical trails can lead us to the underlying causes of that change. The study of social metabolism—of the flows a system requires for its reproduction—constitutes one approach to this empirical work. In applying the social metabolism concept, the flows indicative of telecoupling between systems are commonly operationalized as either material or monetary. Schaffartzik and Kastner discuss the understandings of telecoupling that underpin each trail leading not to the same destination but to different and even opposing assessments of the roles of the coupled systems. The authors insist that these are informative differences requiring further analysis and in-depth interpretation in order to further our conceptual understanding of systems telecoupling.