The panel aims at exploring novel ideas and composite analytical approaches to understand land transformation. The session will be of a conceptual and theoretical nature. It will present suggestions of ways to design new methodologies and integrated models to analyse human-environmental interaction, feed backs in land systems, hotspots of land use transitions and critical thresholds in land system dynamics. Pivotal questions concern: characterization of the socioeconomic and ecological processes that shape land transitions; improvement of bottom-up and top-down modelling tools to be used to assess critical thresholds for resource management with reference to land use change and ecosystem services; and which visions can be formulated for sustainable resource management and land use policy under a range of environmental and management conditions. A series of short presentations will take point of departure in the grand challenges for land systems research and reflect upon issues related to e.g.: empirical and historical analysis of human-environmental interaction; application of models to test hypothesis of land system functioning; valuation of trade-offs between ecosystem services; and the use of land system science to support policy.  The discussion will be initiated by feedback from the discussants and subsequently broadened to include the audience.