Grantee Research Project Results
Land Resources, Growth, and Sustainable Strategies: A Dynamic Integrated Model of Transformation in Maryland's Eastern Shore
EPA Grant Number: U915307Title: Land Resources, Growth, and Sustainable Strategies: A Dynamic Integrated Model of Transformation in Maryland's Eastern Shore
Investigators: Nejo, Olukayode O.
Institution: University of Michigan
EPA Project Officer: Hahn, Intaek
Project Period: June 1, 1998 through June 1, 2001
Project Amount: $50,000
RFA: STAR Graduate Fellowships (1998) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Academic Fellowships , Environmental Justice , Fellowship - Urban Planning
Objective:
The objective of this research project is to investigate an interdisciplinary methodology for sustainable development planning. The methodology is used to develop an integrated decision-support model capable of simulating the interdependence of processes underlying an urban system that is characterized by environmental, economic, and technological changes over time. Such a tool, involving public and private decision processes, can be applied locally and shared regionally with areas facing competing growth and sustainability pressures.
Approach:
The approach is based on a representation of the strategic behavior of three sets of actors: public decision-makers, industry firms, and the population. The theories underlying the integrated system are drawn primarily from the fields of economics, environmental-agriculture development, industrial operations, public policy, corporate strategy, and complex systems. The modeling approach involves three analytical methods—dynamic systems analysis, spatial analysis, and multicriteria evaluation and risk analysis. The structure of the system is defined in terms of its environmental, economic, technological, and social components. The long-term interrelationships among variables are expressed in terms of their temporal and spatial feedback behavior, which give rise to nonlinear functions and changes over time. Sustainable development strategies are embedded by changes in the necessary conditions, values of indicators, and alternative development scenarios. Lastly, development options are examined in terms of the relative preference weights attached by the strategic decision-makers.The results show the long-term foreseeable effects of different development policies and industry strategic decisions on the environmental resources of the study area.
Supplemental Keywords:
fellowship, sustainable strategies, sustainable development, sustainability, sustainable development planning methodology, model, Maryland, MD, Eastern Shore, decision-makers, land resources, economics., Sustainable Industry/Business, RFA, Scientific Discipline, Ecosystem Protection/Environmental Exposure & Risk, Geographic Area, Economic, Social, & Behavioral Science Research Program, Technology for Sustainable Environment, Economics & Decision Making, State, Civil/Environmental Engineering, East Coast, Economics, Sustainable Environment, Agricultural Engineering, decision-making, Monitoring/Modeling, Social Science, economic growth, multi-criteria decision analysis, policy analysis, Maryland's Eeastern Shore, environmental decision making, futures, sustainable development, decision analysis, agriculture, risk management, decision support tool, decision makingProgress and Final Reports:
The perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.