Overdevelopment

Overdevelopment refers to a process by which natural resources (forests, water, reefs, etc.) are impacted by urbanization, road construction, etc. at a rate significantly harmful to the ecosystem.

Environmental activism is a frequent response to overdevelopmant, as well as are many fields of academic study. Sustainability is the conceptual goal that is frequently cited as a response.

There are many differing standards for overdevelopment. Some believe that an area is overdeveloped when any environmental elements are disturbed, while others believe that overdevelopment has only occured when there is a direct, measurable, impact upon human life, such as toxic levels of smog. Land developers often cite the "subjectivity" of the definition of overdevelopment to prove its nonexistence or irrelevancy, while environmental scholars build entire fields of study around the concept.

Indigenous movements such as the Aloha ʻAina movement and the Zapatista movement, often have their own concepts of development, overdevelopment, and sustainability. Their versions of these concepts overlap with those of environmental activism, but differ in many important ways, many of which relate to the ideal interrelation of humans and environment in the particular places in question..