Current systems to classify land are insufficient, as is the delineation of Earth’s surface into discrete categories of land covers and uses, because they ignore the multiple functions that land provides and the movement of people, materials, information, and energy they facilitate. To address sustainability challenges related to urban lifestyles, livelihoods, connectivity, and places, new conceptualizations are needed which have the potential to acknowledge and redefine the extent, intensity, and quality of urbanness on Earth. This chapter proposes a framework which focuses on people and institutions as agents of change and examines changes in urban lifestyles and livelihoods over larger regions, regardless of whether an area is delineated as "urban" or "rural." It views urbanization and the urban era to be an integrated system and provides a multivariable approach to urbanity. It discusses a n ew l and e thic and highlights challenges that exist to facilitate a sustainability transition. © 2014 Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies.