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Title: Environmental Planning and Geographic Information Systems: An Environmental
Approach to Siting New Development.
Mentor: Tenley Conway:
Background
Urbanization is a global environmental problem. New development is a cause of wetlands loss, a reduction of prime farmland, and destruction and fragmentation of critical habitat. Water resources are also negatively impacted by urbanization through point and non-point pollution. The sprawling pattern of growth seen in recent decades has accelerated the consumption of open space and contributed to the decline of exiting urban areas. While new development cannot be halted, the environmental impacts of additional urbanization must be considered when siting new development.
Purpose
The purpose of this workshop is to identify the most environmentally sound location for homes, shopping, and office space for 1,000 new residences in the study area. Geographic Information System (GIS), a spatial analytical tool, will be used to address the research question.
Research objectives
- Identify criteria that should be considered to minimize environmental impact of new development.
- Use ArcView GIS and a large databank of digital data to identify areas that meet the environmental criteria.
- Design an environmentally sound community using environmental planning principles.
Scientific and Educational Impacts
- Identify ways to decrease negative environmental impacts of new development.
- Incorporate spatial information into an environmental planning methodology.
- Develop an understanding of the use of GIS as a tool to analyze spatial data.
- Learn to create maps of GIS output.
- Become familiar with the types of analyses used in web-based GIS applications.
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