Quantitative analysis of resource conflict and urban sustainability in Central North Carolina: a GIScience based approach

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Jasraj Vinayak Gramopadhye (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
Advisor
Rick Bunch

Abstract: The purpose of this dissertation was to devise a quantitative method to compare socioeconomic development and the associated urban growth, with the state of the natural environment. This research was developed on the premise that socioeconomic development is one of the major factors that drive urbanization and, urbanization impacts the environment. Especially when a geographic region experiences rapid urban growth, a preference for economic growth conflicts with the need to protect the quality of the natural environment in and around urban areas. This requires urban policy makers to design policies that balance the conflicting priorities. This research has developed quantitative metrics which have the potential to make it easier for policy makers and stakeholders to strike the balance between priorities for economic growth and environmental protection. And thus, help them make effective urban policies that are better suited for sustainable urban growth. This work assessed the sustainability of urban growth in fifty three counties in central North Carolina with the help of sustainability indicators. The indicators were used as the tools to quantify economic growth and the state of the natural environment. And based on their characteristics, the indicators were aggregated either into a composite index for economic growth or, an index for environmental quality. The results are expressed with the help of these indices which conveyed multivariate information in a way that experts as well as the general public can comprehend. In so doing, this research offered improvements in the procedure for selecting sustainability indicators, and in a method used to compute influence of individual indicator on the overall sustainability.

Additional Information

Publication
Dissertation
Language: English
Date: 2013
Keywords
Geography, GIScience, Human Environment Interactions, Policy Decisions, Sustainability Indicators and Composite Indices, Urban Sustainability
Subjects
Sustainable development $z North Carolina
Urban ecology (Sociology) $z North Carolina
City planning $x Environmental aspects

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