Buildings are only a small fraction of humanity's impact on the world. A lot of land that isn't built up (and therefore doens't show up on the NYT map) is used

Buildings are only a small fraction of humanity's impact on the world. A lot of land that isn't built up (and therefore doens't show up on the NYT map) is used for farming. After all, we have seven billion mouths to feed. Most forests that aren't used for farming have probably been clear-cut a number of times already, and are still being managed artificially. We need timber for the buildings. There are forests in Europe that appear peaceful until you realize that the reason nobody goes in there is that the ground is chock full of unexploded shells from two world wars. And in case you find a desert where nothing useful can grow, you might want to check if we've detonated a couple of nukes there.