8.2.7—Urban expansion impacts

Urban expansion changes environmental systems through specific pathways: land replacement, runoff, water diversion, traffic or industrial emissions.

Choose one pressure and trace it to one receptor. Expansion can remove farms, forests or wetlands; construction can alter water quality; drainage can change river flow; traffic can add air pollution.

Paving a wetland for housing removes habitat and speeds runoff, so biodiversity and local water flow both change through identifiable mechanisms.

Link construction/runoff to pollutants and compare water quality or flow before and after; the boundary alone is not proof.

Do not claim every expansion causes every listed impact; state the mechanism and evidence.