In everyday language, land use is often also referred to as "soil consumption" or "land consumption". However, since land cannot be consumed in the literal sense but can only be put to a different use (such as for building a house), the term land use is used here.

Whilst land use includes not only the actual footprint of the house itself, but also the surrounding garden, the terrace, and the swimming pool as "used" land, soil sealing refers only to the area actually covered by a water- or air-impermeable layer such as asphalt or concrete. In Austria, approximately 41% of land in use is sealed. As Austria has a very high rate of land use relative to its population, the term "land grab" is also commonly used.

A CCCA Fact Sheet entitled "Land Use in Austria" has now been published on this topic.

The authors are Cecilie Foldal (Federal Research Centre for Forests), Sophie Zechmeister-Boltenstern (University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna), Robert Jandl (Federal Research Centre for Forests), and Gundula Prokop (Environment Agency Austria).

You can find all CCCA Fact Sheets here!