Syllabus
NR 285 – Urban Watershed Management
Goals: To explore how concepts in watershed and ecosystem sciences can be applied in urban environments to understand the impacts of development on ecological, social and economics systems. Focus on the impacts of urban sprawl on the hydrologic cycle, especially from a whole watershed perspective.
Main texts: Benfield, F.K., D.D.T. Chen, and M.D. Raimi. 2000. Once there were greenfields: How urban sprawl is undermining America’s environment, economy, and social fabric. Natural Resources Defense Council. Available in UVM bookstore or via Amazon.com.
Meetings: Wednesdays, 7-9 pm, 116 Aikens Center, School of Natural Resources
Credits: 2
Background: Urbanization and suburbanization are two of the most important drivers of land use change globally. According to statistics from the Population Division of United Nations’ Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 30% of the world’s population lived in urban areas in 1950. Today 47% of the population lives in urban areas and by 2030 projections are that almost two thirds (60%) of the world’s population will live in urban areas. A part of this population growth with be absorbed by ‘mega-cities’ – urban centers with 10 million persons or more. In 1995 there were 14 such mega-cities; by 2015 there will be 21. Interestingly, however, the proportion of people living in mega-cities will not grow rapidly. In 2000, 3.7% of the world population lived in mega-cities; by 2015 this figure will only be 4.7%. By contrast, in 2000 about a quarter (24.8%) of the world population lived in cities with less than 500,000 people and this proportion is likely to rise to about 27.1% by 2015. The figures for more developed countries like the US are even more sobering: 41.8% of the population lived in smaller cities in 2000, with a projection of 43.0% by 2015. Clearly the greatest pressure for development will continue to be on rural/urban fringes.
To make matters worse, the expansion of developed areas is not necessarily linearly related to population size. So called ‘urban sprawl’ refers to the apparently uncontrolled expansion of urban and suburban developments into areas previously dedicated to conservation or productive (e.g., agriculture, forestry) purposes. Between 1960 and 1990 the amount of developed land around metropolitan areas in the US doubled, while the population grew by less than half. Between 1970 and 1990 the greater Cleveland area lost 11% of it’s population and yet still managed to increase it’s developed area by 33%! In Los Angeles, population grew by 45% and developed land by 300%. In all, between 1982 and 1992 we lost over 4 million acres of farmland to development – a staggering 45.7 acres per hour, every day, every year of that decade.
This sprawl is paradoxical in that an abundance of regulations, ordinances, and policies would seem to effectively control the nature of urban and suburban development. However, powerful historical, social, and economic factors tend to modify and even override these controlling instruments. The nature of urban and suburban development is one of the primary determinants of quality of life and ecosystem health in a region and so it is essential to understand the factors that drive it and the consequences that ensue from it.
In this seminar we will use the first half of the semester to explore these factors and consequences. In the second half of the semester we will focus on the influences of suburban development on the hydrological cycle, especially from a watershed perspective. To focus our efforts we will develop the resources to produce a report or multi-media presentation aimed at developers and homeowners, that will help them understand the consequences of suburban development on water resources and that will suggest things they can do (best management practices) to minimize these effects.
Format: Introductory lectures, readings from main texts and supplementary publications, participant-lead discussions, and input from key practitioners in the field.
Evaluation: Participants will be evaluated individually based on their involvement in group discussions and a group project. The general focus of the all-groups project will be on urban sprawl and its effect on the water cycle. The specific focus of each 3-person group will be determined at our first meeting. In general, however, each 3-person group will be expected to lead a discussion in the latter half of the semester on a topic relevant to the group project. Preparation for this discussion will involve a literature search for relevant readings and development of an integrated and coordinated report or multi-media (e.g. Powerpoint) presentation on the topic. Whether we choose a report or presentation format will be determined at the first meeting and will be an all-group decision. On the evening, the group co-leaders will then facilitate a discussion of the topic, based on their report or presentation. Participants in the seminar other than the co-leaders for that week will be expected to locate one ‘reference’ relevant to the topic for that evening. A ‘reference’ can be a scientific journal article, a substantive newspaper or magazine article, or relevant web site. Each person (other than the co-presenters) should prepare a short written (printed) abstract (1/2 to 1 page) that explains the relevance of their reference to the evening’s topic and that includes a complete citation so that that the reference can be found by anyone else. Selected individuals will be called on to comment on their reference and all references will be collected to supplement the main report. In addition, everyone is expected to provide constructive suggestions for improvements to the weekly reports or presentations. The readings, key findings, presentations, and supplemental references will provide the basic information for a final, all-group report or multi-media summary, which we may chose to produce for dissemination to the wider public.
Weighting of evaluation units
Seminar attendance 10%
Involvement in discussion 10%
Individual contribution to group project 50%
Individual contributions of supplemental references 25%
Contribution to final summary product 5%
Contacts: Breck Bowden
304 Aiken Center
656-2513 (voice-mail equipped)
Note: I tend to respond less well to voice-mail and prefer e-mail.
Office hours: After class or by appointment.
Topics and Readings:
Note this known conflict: Wednesday evening, 19 February.
Can we meet on another evening that week?
Jan 15 Watershed and ecosystem sciences as approaches to understand urban dynamics. Class discussion about desired outcomes from this seminar experience. Organization of topics.
Jan 22 Contemporary urban dynamics: What’s happening to our cities?
Benfield et al. text – Chapter 1 (all)
ALTERNATIVE ASSIGNMENT: Read Grimm et al. and one cited reference. See notes.
Jan
29 Sprawl and the environment (1)
Benfield et al. text – Chapter 2 (Driving ourselves crazy/Gray Skies and Greenhouses)
Sheehan, M.O. 2002. What Will It Take to Halt Sprawl? World Watch Magazine 15(1): 12-24
Feb 5 Sprawl and the environment (2)
Benfield et al. text – Chapter 2 (Landscapes Lost/Runoff Run Amok)
Grimm et al. 2002. An ecosystem approach to understanding cities: familiar foundations and uncharted frontiers. Chapter 7. Pages 95-114 in: Berkowitz et al. Understanding urban ecosystems. Springer-Verlag. New York.
Of further interest…
Collins et al. 2000. The new urban
ecology. American Scientist 88: 416-425.
Feb
12 The economics of urban sprawl
Benfield et al. text – Chapter 3 (all)
Wassmer, Robert W., and Marlon G. Boarnet. 2001. The Benefits of Growth. The Urban Land Institute. Washington, D.C.
Of further interest…
Rees, W. 2002. Understanding urban ecosystems: an ecological economics perspective. Chapter 8. Pages 115-136 in: Berkowitz et al. Understanding urban ecosystems. Springer-Verlag. New York.
Feb 19 No class. Work on presentations.
Feb
26 Elements of a ‘Smart Growth’ policy
Benfield et al. text – Chapter 5 (all)
Is Smart Growth smart? Chose a pro-sprawl article from one of the following sites:
http://reason.com/bisprawl.shtml
http://www.free-market.net/directorybytopic/sprawl/ (scholarly works only)
Of further interest…
The Smart Growth America web site…
http://www.smartgrowthamerica.com/
Mar 5 Presentation from Vermont Forum on Sprawl
Mar 12 The human dimension of sprawl
Benfield et al. text – Chapter 4 (all)
Hancock
T. et al. 1999. Indicators that count! Measuring population health at the
community level. Canadian Journal of Public Health 90 (Supplement 1): S22-S26.
Of further interest…
Grimm et al. 2000. Integrated approaches to long-term studies of urban ecological systems. BioScience 50(7): 571-584.
Takano, T. and K. Nakmura. 2001. An analysis of health levels and various indicators of urban environments for Healthy Cities projects. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 55(4):263-270.
Mar 19 SPRING BREAK
Mar 26 Urban sprawl and the water cycle: ‘The Schoolhouse’ (Alethea, Anne, Nat)
April
2 Urban sprawl and the water cycle: Charlotte (Justin, Ryan, Sarah)
April 9 Urban sprawl and the water cycle: Burlington (Cheryl, Erica, Tim)
April
16 Urban sprawl and the water cycle: Stowe (Jon, Justin, Mike)
April
23 Urban sprawl and the water cycle: Williston (Jessica, Lisa, Trevor)
April
30 No class: SNR annual dinner
TBA Wrap up of web site