U-M Study Examines Connection Between ‘Exurbs,’ Climate Change
To: ENVIRONMENTAL EDITORS
Contact: Kevin Merrill, director of communications, University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environment, +1-734-936- 2447
ANN ARBOR, Mich., Aug. 14 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — 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.
For the full release, please visit http://www.snre.umich.edu/ newsroom/2008-08-14/ snre_professors_examine_connection_between_exurbs_climate_change
CONTACT: Kevin Merrill, director of communications, University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environment, 1.734.936.2447
SOURCE University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environment
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