Through a detailed
analysis of the science, policy and design of land use, researchers at the
University of Michigan are examining how "exurban" areas outside of
American's urban and suburban areas can absorb more carbon from the
atmosphere.
The research could lead to changes in how developers, residents and
even local planning boards think about land-cover management, the value of
land and land-use policies. Ultimately, those discussions could lead to
local decisions and rules, zoning policies, educational initiatives, and
design innovations that promote patterns of development and landscape
design that increase absorption of carbon, which could slow climate change.
"Exurban residential development is widespread and constitutes one of
the major forms of land-use and land-cover changes in the eastern U.S. and
elsewhere," said Dan Brown, the project's lead researcher and a professor
at U-M's School of Natural Resources and Environment. "This sprawl has
large impacts on vast landscapes, ecosystem services and quality of life of
millions of people."
Exurban areas are often defined as low-density residential developments
that exist beyond traditional urban and suburban areas, and which are often
disconnected from urban services like sewer and water.
The National Science Foundation is funding the research with a $1.5
million award. This project's research goals are to investigate the process
of carbon absorption in the vegetation of exurban residential areas; the
preferences of residents for land-cover types and patterns in those areas;
and land-management activities of residents and developers.
Researchers will use aerial-photo interpretation, field studies and
ecosystem-process modeling that will simulate plant-soil feedbacks and
soil-carbon storage as well as allow simulation of landowner management of
vegetation and detritus. Surveys and social simulations will be used to
understand how large-scale landscape patterns emerge from decisions by
individual developers and landowners over time, and will be linked to
social survey data.
Other SNRE researchers involved in the project are Joan Nassauer, a
professor of landscape architecture, and Bill Currie, an associate
professor of terrestrial ecosystems. Also involved are researchers from
U-M's Center for the Study of Complex Systems and George Mason University's
Department of Computational Social Science.
SOURCE University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and
Environment
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