American Scientist

The world population continues to grow, and to migrate toward urban areas. To study how these trends affect land use changes and to forecast urban expansion, Karen C. Seto, the Frederick C. Hixon Professor of Geography and Urbanization Science at the School of the Environment at Yale University, integrates remote sensing, field interviews, and modeling methods. She is an expert in satellite remote sensing analysis and has pioneered methods to reconstruct historical land use. Seto’s research has generated new insights about the interaction between urbanization and food systems, the effects of urban expansion on biodiversity and cropland loss, urban energy use and emissions, and urban mitigation of climate change. She was the coleader of the urban mitigation chapter for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 5th and 6th Assessment Reports. She is also the coauthor of City Unseen: New Visions of an Urban Planet (Yale University Press, 2018). Seto is a 2025–2026 Sigma Xi Distinguished Lecturer, and she spoke with editor-in-chief Fenella Saunders about her work. (This interview has been edited for length and clarity.)