Social constructions, or frames, often determine how and to whom benefits and burdens are delivered by public policy. Triggering events often open policy windows in which drastic policy changes can occur. In July of 2009, a wet, steep hillside failed in Logan, Utah, leveling a home below and destroying an irrigation canal that ran along the hill. The resulting policy changes illustrated how social constructions of agricultural producers in terms of deservedness and power shifted, both as a result of urbanization and as a result of the landslide. Policy processes are often path-dependent and decisions can become self-reinforcing. Analyzing the pathway that led up to the landslide provided insights into the importance of proactive management and long-term planning of water infrastructure, especially in urbanizing environments. By using policy and discourse analysis, this thesis highlights water management challenges involved in the urbanizing arid U.S. Intermountain West and how planners and policymakers can use this information to achieve democratic policy solutions.

Utah is one of the fastest growing states in the USA. Utah’s Wasatch Range Metropolitan Area (WRMA), where 80% of Utah’s population resides, is growing at unprecedented rates and has seen extensive urban landscape transformation in the last half century. Many of Utah’s agricultural lands, grasslands, and wetlands have been transformed into urban areas during this time. Local residents have watched and experienced these changes to their local environment, but without a clear understanding of the processes and impacts of urbanization. It is not until we study these landscapes from a spatial perspective and the time scale of decades that we can begin to measure the changes that have occurred and predict the impact of changes to come if current trajectories continue. In this dissertation research I worked with my research colleagues to provide a comprehensive analysis of the WRMA’s past land use changes and future land use trends. In doing so, we: (1) measured the rate, the magnitude, and the process of past urban growth; (2) compared the changes of irrigated agricultural lands and non-irrigated agricultural lands in relation to urban development; and, (3) predicted how future urban growth could occur under various policy scenarios. We found that several counties at the heart of the WRMA have reached the limits of their capacity for future urban expansion. Thus, increasing urban density and land use efficiency will be key aspects of addressing the WRMA’s future growth. Also, variations of growth trends exist among and within the ten counties located in the WRMA, so it is necessary to develop contextualized and localized growth management plans. Furthermore, past land use dynamics prove that irrigated agricultural lands are more affected by urbanization than non-irrigated agricultural lands, with evidence of increasing agricultural lands fragmentation. Agricultural lands have been and will likely continue to be the major land source for future urban development. Utah’s public has indicated it wants to preserve agricultural lands to maintain open space and preserve cultural heritage, but this will require political attention and actions focused on areas where these lands are particularly vulnerable in the face of urban growth trajectories. The overall dissertation provides quantitative measurement of Utah’s urban landscape transformation and a science-based foundation for crafting successful land use policies to help guide future growth of the WRMA.

Rivers and streams are sensitive to alterations in their watersheds and one of the greatest disturbances is from urban development. An urban stream channel in the Atlanta metropolitan area in the Georgia Piedmont was studied to establish the nature of adjustment the channel form was experiencing. This study compared a degraded channel with a channel influenced by stabilization efforts in the same stream reach, in order to investigate the behavior of channel adjustments towards a greater stability. Measurements of the short-term changes in channel cross-sectional area and bed-material volume, following a series of threshold flow events, were taken in the reach and the variation in bed sediment texture was also investigated. Results showed that channel banks were stable compared to more mobile beds and that urban effects continued to dictate sedimentation. Rehabilitation measures were aggrading channels in their reaches and were likely perpetuating the instability of upstream channels.

Linha de pesquisa: Pol?tica, cultura e sociedade. / Submitted by Jos? Henrique Henrique (jose.neves@ufvjm.edu.br) on 2017-02-20T19:32:47Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) sanmil_manoel_costa_cruz.pdf: 15836756 bytes, checksum: c351e9950e558fcde03a055c19ce3de9 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Rodrigo Martins Cruz (rodrigo.cruz@ufvjm.edu.br) on 2017-02-23T12:47:25Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) sanmil_manoel_costa_cruz.pdf: 15836756 bytes, checksum: c351e9950e558fcde03a055c19ce3de9 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-02-23T12:47:25Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) sanmil_manoel_costa_cruz.pdf: 15836756 bytes, checksum: c351e9950e558fcde03a055c19ce3de9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016 / O presente trabalho visa analisar como se deu o parcelamento do solo urbano da cidade de Diamantina-MG at? o ano de 2011. Parte-se do pressuposto que tais questionamentos s?o essenciais para a compreens?o dos atuais contornos da cidade, bem como dos passivos ambientais herdados ao longo dos anos, como a irregularidade fundi?ria. Teve-se como expectativas: (i) que seria poss?vel mapear a evolu??o do tra?ado urbano de Diamantina a partir do s?culo XVIII at? 2011, ano do atual Plano Diretor; (ii) que seria poss?vel caracterizar a situa??o f?tica aparente em que se encontra grande parte dos terrenos da cidade, at? 2011, ano do Plano Diretor vigente. (iii) que seria poss?vel compreender o processo e indicar sugest?es para o melhor desenvolvimento da Fun??o Social da Cidade, em m?dio e longo prazo, bem como para garantia do direito de moradia. Com base nessa problem?tica, o objetivo dessa pesquisa foi norteado por outros que se fazem presentes, a saber: 1) Compreender as bases da pol?tica urbana nacional; 2) Entender e analisar como ocorre o exerc?cio do direito de moradia frente ?s possibilidades legais; 3) Verificar as condi??es sociais da popula??o da cidade de Diamantina, a partir de dados governamentais, principalmente os referentes aos anos 2000 e 2010 e 4) Averiguar como se deu a fiscaliza??o por parte do poder p?blico, principalmente o municipal, da referida ?rea de estudo. Nesse sentido para a concretiza??o da pesquisa optou-se pela abordagem metodol?gica empirista, dado que se pretende explicar somente a face observ?vel da realidade (MARTINS & THE?PHILO, 2009, p. 39). Al?m disso, optou-se pela utiliza??o dos m?todos quantitativos e qualitativos, uma vez que o primeiro foi utilizado para trabalhar os dados quantificados, obtidos de fontes governamentais como o Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estat?stica (IBGE), e o segundo, para analisar e interpretar aspectos comportamentais do fen?meno estudado. Tamb?m se mostrou salutar a utiliza??o de conceitos jur?dicos, os quais foram imprescind?veis para resolu??o de problemas no ?mbito do Direito (LAKATOS & MARCONI, 2011, p. 254). Assim, visando conhecer melhor a estrutura fundi?ria e se chegar a resultados mais precisos sobre a realidade da ocupa??o do solo urbano da cidade de Diamantina-MG, optou-se por cruzamentos de dados por meio da utiliza??o dos Sistemas de Informa??es Georreferenciadas (SIG) para a confec??o dos mapas. O trabalho encontra-se dividido em tr?s cap?tulos. A primeira etapa se concentra nos aspectos legais relativos ao Direito Urban?stico, tais como suas caracter?sticas e compet?ncias, objetivos norteadores e seus dispositivos legais (Estatuto da cidade, Plano Diretor, Lei de parcelamento do solo, entre outros), a fim de fornecer os suportes para compreens?o da pol?tica urbana. Na sequ?ncia, o 2? cap?tulo possui um enfoque mais hist?rico, geogr?fico e social. Em seguida, o 3? cap?tulo buscou fazer a discuss?o dos resultados, ou seja, uma s?ntese entre o que se observou sobre o parcelamento urban?stico do solo da cidade, o direito de moradia e a fun??o social da cidade. Espera-se que este trabalho elucide algumas d?vidas sobre o parcelamento do solo urbano da cidade de Diamantina-MG, bem como auxilie na formula??o de pol?ticas p?blicas para uma melhor utiliza??o do espa?o. / Disserta??o (Mestrado Profissional) ? Programa de P?s-Gradua??o em Ci?ncias Humanas, Universidade Federal dos Vales do Jequitinhonha e Mucuri, 2016. / The presente study aims analyze how it came to land sudivision in Diamantina, Minas Gerais. It is assumed that those questions are essential to the modern shape of the city such as the environmental liabilities inherited as time passed and irregular land ownership. There was a theory (i) that it could be possible to map urban layout of Diamantina dating back to XVIII century up to 2011, year of the current development plan, (ii) it would be possible to describe the ground truth where most of plots of land are located until 2011, year of current development plan, (iii) it would be possible to understand this process and give suggestions for improving social duty of Diamantina, in short and long terms as well as to warrant the rights of housing. Based on this problems the goal of this research was guided through other existing ones, to know (1) understanding national urban politics; (2) understanding and analyzing how housing rights work inf face to legal possibilities; (3) check social condition of Diamantina-MG habitants relying on governmental data, mainly those referring to years 2000 and 2010 and (4) checking out how public supervision was done, mainly municipal supervision of the mentioned areas studied during the analyzed period. To realize this research we opted for the empiricist methodology, because this work's intention is just to explain what can be observed (MARTINS & THE?PHILO, 2009, p. 39). And we opted for the quantitative and qualitative methodology to analyze data given by governmental sources like IBGE and analyze and to interpret behavioral factors we also used jurisdictional concepts which are indispensable to solve problems in the law area (LAKATOS & MARCONI, 2011, p. 254). So, trying to know better about land ownership structure and get to accurate results about the reality of urban ground occupation in Diamantina, we crossed data using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for confection of the maps. It is subdivided in three chapters. The first one con concentrates on legal aspects related to urban rights, such as its features and obligations, quiding lines and legal devices (city statute, development plan, land subdivision, etc.) to provide support to urban politic comprehension, following, the 2nd chapter makes a summary of the urban shape's development in Diamantina observing different historical periods in local and global scale to better understand the features which marked its occupation, next, the 3rd chapter tried to discuss the results, a summary about what was observed about land subdivision, housing rights and social issue of Diamantina. We hope to clarify some questions about land subdivision in Diamantina and provide better comprehension about public policy for better use of space.

The Ipswich River watershed has experienced increasing urbanization in recent years. The river, which supplies water to over 300,000 residents (twice the watershed’s population), was considered one of the 10 Most Endangered Rivers in the U.S. in 2003 due to seasonal low-flow and no-flow events. Seasonal outdoor water restrictions have curbed residential demand; however, impervious surfaces and municipal sewer systems direct much of the runoff outside the watershed. Low-impact development (LID) practices, specifically those that infiltrate runoff, have the potential to keep more water in the watershed, and increase baseflows in the river. This study seeks to ascertain the barriers and motivations that exist to LID adoption. A paper survey including Likert-scale questions and a photo preference component was sent to 1,000 homeowners in the watershed. Analysis of responses employed factor analysis and means comparisons to compare responses between concerned homeowners (those who belonged to the local watershed association) and randomly-selected homeowners. Income and educational attainment were significant variables in both aesthetic preferences and willingness to adopt LID practices. Perceived cost of landscape changes and concern about disease-carrying pests also surfaced as barriers to residential adoption. The findings emphasize alternate strategies for land use planners, landscape professionals and environmental organizations to promote behavioral changes in the way residential landscapes are managed, and policies municipalities could adopt to implement more widespread use of LID practices. More widespread understanding and appreciation of the multiple benefits of rain LID landscapes could also serve all three groups.

Landscape is a heterogeneous collection of visibly distinct features of various elements of land and its various forms on the earth surface. Its pattern is subjected to disturbances and undergo rapid alterations in its grain sizes. The evolving patterns of landscape define and decide various parameters for the planning and management of resources. These dynamic systems possess both spatial and temporal complexity. Exploitation of natural resources and drastic land cover changes have given rise to significant impacts on ecosystem structure and dynamics. The functional abilities (bio-geo chemical cycling, hydrological cycling, etc.) of the landscape are basically dependent on the structure and its complexity. This necessitates inventorying, mapping and modeling of landscape dynamics. Patterns and scale are central issues that are essential to understand complex interactions and driving forces. Large scale changes have been rapid and occurring since industrialization and urbanisation in the last century. The exponential growth of cities has been noticed since the industrial revolution and as transport sector changed the mobility of the masses drastically. Urbanisation interacts with the neighboring landscape structures in the form of commuter’s flow, pollution, obtaining food grain, which create dispersed growth or sprawl in between the metropolis and the semi urban area, and these areas are often devoid of basic amenities due to lack of prior information and necessitates predictions of such growth while planning, policy and decision-making. Planning determines appropriate future action through a sequence of choices that tend to occur. To understand uncertain conditions, planners and city managers need vital comprehensive information about the temporally evolving landscape and try to predict the future, for effective decisions. The quality of planning and its decision processes can be substantially improved when the required information is handled appropriately and efficiently. This explains that an effective planning requires descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive information inputs for sustainable resource management. Therefore, modeling future trends becomes a necessary part of planning. Urban growth models help in modelling future trends that can be an efficient and effective support tool. In recent years, the confluence of developments in Remote sensing, Geographic Information System and Image processing, Computational Urban Growth and Urban Land-use Modeling has made possible in timely provision of information inputs to planners. In the context of Indian cities, this research attempts to study the patterns of urban growth and the rate of change of that growth using various techniques such as Land use, land cover models, Gradient and zonal approach, spatial metrics and urban growth models. Indian cities are divided based on population into various categories. These categories were considered separately and dealt with sample number of cities. This works helps in understanding the change pattern of rapidly urbanising, moderately urbanising and rural landscape is accomplished using various metrics and gradients. The research, is mainly aimed at understanding the pattern of growth and device computational urban growth model using well known techniques and develop a suitable technique in order to understand the context of agents and their role in modelling future urban growth and estimate the rate of loss of other land use categories due to urban growth. Satellite images for different time series was used to study the pattern of urban growth in the study areas. Well know indicators were derived from the data. This was further used to model one of the rapidly urbanising cities based on scenario no agents/factor and with agents of growth using city development plans and in absence of it. This adaptation to Indian context will help in gaining better understanding of the urban growth system in various levels of cities classified, and thus help in providing inputs and specific information of future growth for urban planners and city managers to provide better basic amenities and for sustainable growth of cities. The objective of the proposed research is to understand and model the spatio temporal patterns of landscape dynamics. This involves i. Analysis of Landscape dynamics using multi-resolution (spatial, temporal and spectral) data. ii. Quantifying landscape dynamics using landscape metrics and associated landscape parameters. iii. Modeling and geo-visualisation of landscape dynamics in rapidly urbanizing, moderately urbanising and rural landscape using these parameters. iv. Model the landscape dynamics using soft computing techniques. The thesis consists of nine chapters. Chapter 1 introduces the basic concepts such as landscape, landscape dynamics, use of spatio-temporal data to monitor landscape dynamics, geo-visualisation of landscape dynamics, research gaps and motivation for taking up the research in this domain. Chapter 2 presents the study region, which are broadly grouped as (i) Rapidly urbanizing landscapes (corresponding to Tier I Cities in India), (ii) Moderately urbanizing landscapes (Tier II cities, chosen select Tier II cities in Karnataka), and (iii) Landscape experiencing minimal urbanisation (rural landscape). Chapter 3 discusses the material and method adopted for understanding landscape dynamics and geo-visualisation of landscape dynamics Chapter 4 presents the landscape dynamics in rapidly urbanizing landscape (Bangalore) in India. Spatial pattern analyses are done through metrics using zonal- gradient approach. Chapter 5 analyses the environmental sustainability aspects considering one case study of rapidly urbanizing landscape – Bangalore Chapter 6 discusses urbanisation process and patterns across macro cities in India. Similarly Chapter 7 discusses the urbanisation pattern in Tier II cities (in Karnataka) and Chapter 8 presents the rural landscape dynamics Geo-visualisation of a rapidly urbanizing landscape (Bangalore) through techniques such as Cellular Automata – Markov Chain, land change modeler (LCM), Geographical land use change modeler (GEOMOD), Markov Cellular automata based process of deriving agent’s behavior using Fuzziness in the dataset and Analytical Hierarchal process. Further research in progress in this domain focusses on integration of various agents and evaluation of proposed development plans and likely scenario of integrating land use with mobility. Keyword: landscape, landscape dynamics, urbanisation, urban growth, urban sprawl, urban footprint, modelling, geo-visualisation