Improving landscape sustainability across urban and rural regions in a changing world

Improving the relationships between socioeconomic development and the natural environment to achieve sustainable development represents the most pressing imperative for human society (Kates et al. 2001 ). Landscapes represent the scale domain where human–environment interactions are the most intense, thus playing a critical role in the science and practice of sustainability (Wu 2013 , 2021 ). However, climate change, pandemics, and regional conflicts are profoundly altering the urban and rural landscapes upon which humanity depends, posing serious threats to sustainable development (Solokha et al. 2023 ; Sun et al. 2024 ; Wiersma 2024 ). For instance, urbanization has resulted in the loss of natural habitats and agricultural land, alongside environmental pollution and other challenges (Huang et al. 2022 ). Regional conflicts—such as those between Ukraine and Russia, in the Middle East and across Central Africa—have significantly disrupted local ecosystem structures and processes (Solokha et al. 2023 ). Climate change has intensified the frequency and severity of extreme weather events, including droughts, floods, heatwaves, and tropical cyclones, thereby exerting profound impacts on landscape patterns (Meyer and Rannow 2013 ).