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Land Resources, Growth, and Sustainable Strategies: A Dynamic Integrated Model of Transformation in Maryland's Eastern Shore

EPA Grant Number: U915307
Title: 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 - Ann Arbor
EPA Project Officer: Just, Theodore J.
Project Period: June 1, 1998 through June 1, 2001
Project Amount: $50,000
RFA: STAR Graduate Fellowships (1998)
Research Category: Fellowship - Urban and Regional Planning , Economics and Decision Sciences , Academic Fellowships

Description:

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. , Ecosystem Protection/Environmental Exposure & Risk, Economic, Social, & Behavioral Science Research Program, Geographic Area, Sustainable Industry/Business, Scientific Discipline, RFA, Technology for Sustainable Environment, Sustainable Environment, Social Science, Civil/Environmental Engineering, decision-making, Economics & Decision Making, Monitoring/Modeling, Agricultural Engineering, East Coast, Economics, State, Maryland (MD), decision support tool, policy analysis, risk management, decision analysis, multi-criteria decision analysis, sustainable development, decision making, futures, Maryland's Eeastern Shore, agriculture, economic growth

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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.

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