Land consumption as part of human resource consumption is the conversion of land with healthy soil and intact habitats into areas for industrial agriculture, traffic and especially urban human settlements. More formally, the EEA has identified three land consuming activities:The expansion of built-up area which can be directly measured; the absolute extent of land that is subject to exploitation by agriculture, forestry or other economic activities; and the over-intensive exploitation of land that is used for agriculture and forestry.

Land development is the alteration of landscape in any number of ways such as:Changing landforms from a natural or semi-natural state for a purpose such as agriculture or housing Subdividing real estate into lots, typically for the purpose of building homes Real estate development or changing its purpose, for example by converting an unused factory complex into a condominium.