This paper forms the introduction to a special issue of Land Use Policy based upon a selection of papers presented at the "Using and Shaping the Land" symposium that took place at the conference "Nature, Society and History: Long-Term Dynamics of Social Metabolism" in autumn 1999 in Vienna. This introductory paper offers a framework and an analysis of the following questions: What is the relationship between land use and social metabolism - i,e., socio-economic material and energy flows? How many specific environmental transformations be apprehended, and what have been the dynamics of change over the long haul? Lastly, how does land-use and land-cover change, as identified in the papers, relate to global change? The paper offers an ecumenical view of land-use change, and points towards a broader framework for analysis.