This case study examines the relationship between agriculture and urbanization in the context of Oregon's comprehensive land use planning system. The first article assesses the historical relationship between rural real estate development and investment in agriculture in Jackson County southern Oregon. The second article uses the theory of global urbanization to reflect on the patterns of urbanization in Jackson County and suggests that global urbanization might provide a useful framework for connecting urban political ecology and exurban political ecology. The third article focuses on the political economies of farmland preservation in Jackson County where there have been repeated calls for increased local control of land use planning. / 2016-09-29

Urbanization can negatively affect the capacity of ecosystems to provide services that support human life. Edible green infrastructure (EGI) can increase cultural and environmental services in urban and peri-urban communities. Instrumental in the use of EGI are local governments, who are in a position to pass supportive policies. For this research, we completed a qualitative study of EGI policy processes in U.S. cities and a mixed-methods study of EGI challenges and opportunities in small towns. Our first objective was to understand how and why EGI policy develops. We interviewed twelve policy actors from six U.S. cities that have formalized EGI ordinances. Major drivers of EGI policy were: 1) improving public health; 2) securing land tenure; 3) managing vacant lands; 4) accommodating for population growth; and 5) the local food movement. Common policymaking steps included: 1) local communities initiate EGI policy process; 2) city governments respond by working with communities to draft EGI ordinances; 3) abrupt changes to land use policies result in a policy image supportive of EGI as a public land management strategy; and 4) during emergence of the new land use paradigm, incremental changes reinforce this image. We also learned how certain challenges and policy actor recommendations for minimizing obstacles affect the policy process. Our second objective was to understand EGI adoption in small towns. We surveyed 68 mayors of small towns (<25,000) in Virginia to study local leader perspectives regarding implementation and policy. The greatest perceived barrier to EGI adoption was long-term maintenance, whereas opportunities included civic benefits such as education and community-building. Most towns had not intentionally used EGI on public land, nor did they have compatible land use codes. Open-ended responses suggest that mayors have different views about the role policy should play in EGI adoption. We used mayoral perceptions about the constituent support for public green space, the implementation of edible woody perennial species, and available public space for EGI to group towns into unique types. Four groups were identified in a K-means cluster analysis: 1) Ambivalent and Resource-Poor; 2) Optimistic and Capable; 3) Doubtful and Unsupported; and 4) Unsure with Potential. One-way ANOVA and Tukey's HSD post-hoc analysis (α=0.05) showed that Optimistic and Capable were significantly more likely than Doubtful and Unsupported to intend to plant EGI and benefit from government support for edible, woody perennials on public land. EGI may be more practical for towns with greater backing for public green space, more available land, and higher rates of favorable attitudes. / Master of Science / The global movement of people from rural to urban and suburban areas has impacted ecosystem health and human well-being. A land management strategy that can improve environmental and public health is edible green infrastructure (EGI), which is small-scale food production in and around built structures. Local governments can pass policies that increase the use of EGI in public spaces. To learn more about how local governments view EGI and the role that policy might play, we completed two studies. In our first study, we interviewed 12 people from 6 U.S. cities who were involved in the development of EGI policies. The purpose of this study was to learn how and why cities pass EGI policies. Reasons for policy adoption included: 1) improving public health for their residents; 2) ensuring EGI as a permanent rather than temporary land use; 3) finding a better use for vacant properties; 4) setting aside green space for current and future populations; and 5) increasing local and healthy food access. Cities shared the following policy development steps: 1) local community leaders demonstrated that EGI policy was needed; 2) government leaders worked together with residents to draft an EGI ordinance; 3) ordinances were passed that significantly changed how public land could be used; and 4) they passed other, smaller policies to make the use of EGI easier for residents. In our second study, we surveyed 68 mayors of small towns (< 25,000 people) in Virginia, U.S. The purpose of this study was to learn what local leaders think about the use of EGI in the public spaces and whether EGI policies would be useful. Long-term maintenance was the biggest barrier and the greatest opportunities included education, recreation, social gathering, and community building. Mayors had differing opinions on whether policies pertaining to EGI on public land were a good idea for their towns, and several pointed out that residents already had access to private land for food production. Using mayors' responses, we grouped towns based on the following characteristics: 1) how much public land could be used for food production; 2) how supportive residents were of existing green space; and 3) how residents thought about the use of EGI on public land. We found that small towns in Virginia could be described as; 1) Ambivalent and Resource-Poor; 2) Optimistic and Capable; 3) Doubtful and Unsupported; or 4) Unsure with Potential. "Optimistic and Capable" towns were more likely to be supported by municipal policies and budgets and to use EGI for managing public land, whereas "Doubtful and Unsupported" towns were least likely to be supported by local government and to use EGI. In summary, EGI may be more practical for towns with greater backing for public green space, more available land, and more favorable views on food production on public land.

This thesis improves the understanding of adaptive water governance in the policy process, and draws lessons of policy relevance for flood management. Scholars using the concept of adaptive water governance posit that factors influencing the governing activities of social actors are of critical importance to improve society’s capacity to better respond to the on-going water crisis. They developed a set of principles for adaptive water governance, in particular the need for polycentric forms of governance, where power over decision-making is not held by a single social actor but distributed across society, and the use of participatory processes, promoting collective action and enhancing collective reflection. Empirical evidence on the validity of these principles remains sparse, in particular in public policy processes.The thesis uses established research on the policy process to better conceptualise the governance of complex water problems. It examines empirically the emergence of integrated, ecosystem-based flood management in Scotland, a typical Western democracy though characterised by an interesting history of institutional design and flood policy dynamics. First, factors influencing the formulation and integration of the approach in national environmental policies are identified, drawing on an inductive, thematic and historical analysis of documents and interviews with key policy actors. Second, factors influencing the implementation of the approach, in particular the role of policy instruments and public participation, are then identified in the Eddleston and Bowmont-Glen catchments. A combination of documentary analysis, interviews with local actors, and Q Methodology are used. The thesis supports the general principle that polycentric governance can improve the adaptability of governance systems. Horizontally, multiple actors with decision-making power may encourage greater reflexivity in the policy process. Having multiple policy regimes may also foster innovative interventions. Vertically, significant autonomy between governance levels may help better adapt policies to the appropriate scale of intervention. The devolution of legislative powers from the British to the Scottish level is presented as an example. At a more local level, providing greater autonomy to implementers can enhance their capacity to enforce policies. The thesis also provides evidence for critics of polycentric governance. In particular, polycentric governance may result in a lack of coherence between policy regimes, heterogeneous implementation, and potentially status-quo, rather than change. The thesis supports the idea that a strong participatory approach may help overcome the limitations of polycentric governance. Findings indicate that critical factors for success are the institutional context in which it occurs, its inclusive nature, adequate resourcing, time available, and the willingness of participants to reach compromise and learn. Individual entrepreneurship is clearly fundamental to increase the adaptability of governance systems.Overall, the thesis shows that attention to the public policy process is an important analytical approach to the study of adaptive governance. Past research on the policy process provides constructive theories to explore principles of adaptive governance in an empirical context. Main policy recommendations, for Scotland and beyond, include, amongst others, a call for strong governance arrangements to accompany the work of multi-actor groups for policy integration, the use of instrument mixes across policy regimes to influence land managers, and greater support for non-governmental catchment organisations to foster local collaboration and improve policy implementation.

Orientador: Teresa Cristina Tarle Pissarra / Resumo: As tecnologias de sensoriamento remoto são utilizadas para definir índices de vegetação obtidos a partir da reflectância das culturas e para aprimorar as técnicas e práticas de manejo na implantação do sistema de agricultura de precisão. Este trabalho teve como objetivo analisar temporalmente, em três cortes (2016, 2017 e 2018), a correlação entre o índice espectral de vegetação (NDVI) e a fertilidade do solo, em área cultivada com cana-de-açúcar. A amostragem dos dados foi realizada em uma malha amostral de 57 pontos. O solo foi analisado considerando as características químicas de fertilidade e os índices de vegetação por diferença normalizada – NDVI foram obtidos por técnicas de sensoriamento remoto em imagens de satélite Landsat 8, datadas um mês anterior ao corte. As análises estatísticas foram realizadas para verificar as diferenças temporais entre as reflectâncias da cultura da cana-de-açúcar entre os anos de 2016 (3o corte), 2017 (4o corte) e 2018 (5o corte). O índice espectral de vegetação (NDVI) e a fertilidade do solo na cultura de cana-de-açúcar apresentam comportamento diferenciado ao longo do tempo. As zonas de solo mais fértil refletiram a transformação espectral das bandas projetadas para aumentar a contribuição das propriedades da vegetação e permitiu intercomparações espaciais e temporais com o desenvolvimento da atividade fotossintética da cana-de-açúcar e as variações estruturais do dossel anterior aos cortes. A técnica de sensoriamento com o índice espect... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: Remote sensing technologies are used to define vegetation indices obtained from crop reflectance and to improve management techniques and practices in the implementation of the precision farming system. The objective of this work was to analyze, in three cuts (2016, 2017 and 2018), the correlation between vegetation spectral index (NDVI) and soil fertility in na área planted with sugarcane. The data were sampled in a sample mesh of 57 points. The soil was analyzed considering the fertility chemical characteristics and the normalized difference vegetation indices - NDVI were obtained by remote sensing techniques in Landsat 8 satellite images, dated one month prior to the cut. Statistical analyzes were performed to verify the temporal differences between sugarcane crop reflectances between 2016 (3rd crop), 2017 (4th crop) and 2018 (5th crop). The spectral vegetation index (NDVI) and soil fertility in the sugarcane crop showed different behavior over time. The most fertile soil zones reflected the spectral transformation of the bands designed to increase the contribution of vegetation properties and allowed spatial and temporal intercomparisons with the development of the photosynthetic activity of the sugarcane and the structural variations of the canopy prior to the cuts. The vegetation spectral index sensing technique (NDVI) was applicable in the temporal analysis of soil attributes correlated to the cut and reflectance of the sugarcane crop, showing a tool to delimit managem... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

Over the last century, regionalism in American cities has taken many forms and has risen and fallen in popularity and effectiveness. “New Regionalism” is supported by many as the answer to many urban problems, yet it has proven to often be unsuccessful at addressing one of the most difficult of these problems—disjointed and inefficient regional growth and land use patterns. In this report, it is hypothesized that metropolitan planning organizations (MPO) are in such a position as to become coordinators and guiders of regional growth and land use patterns. Literature reviews and an original survey are performed as part of this research. The results show that MPOs can be politically and functionally capable of guiding land use, that tools are available to MPOs to influence land development patterns, and that MPOs are, in fact, beginning to focus on land use planning issues and are using their policies and programs to guide land development patterns and support a regional growth vision. / text

Submitted by GABRIELA FERRACINE DE PINA null (gabifpina@yahoo.com.br) on 2018-01-09T01:04:48Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao_GabrielaPina.pdf: 1865092 bytes, checksum: 5c06ce4bbef1c4ca7a6a9012fac5d025 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Alexandra Maria Donadon Lusser Segali null (alexmar@fcav.unesp.br) on 2018-01-09T09:43:06Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 pina_gf_me_jabo.pdf: 1865092 bytes, checksum: 5c06ce4bbef1c4ca7a6a9012fac5d025 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-01-09T09:43:06Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 pina_gf_me_jabo.pdf: 1865092 bytes, checksum: 5c06ce4bbef1c4ca7a6a9012fac5d025 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-12-13 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Recuperação ecológica é a restituição de um ecossistema degradado a uma condição não degradada. É uma importante estratégia para reverter os reflexos negativos na conservação da biodiversidade, o que caracteriza a importância da determinação da localização de ambientes que podem ocorrer essa recuperação. O trabalho objetivou identificar as áreas passíveis de recuperação ecológica e potenciais para a implantação de corredores ecológicos, no município de Sertãozinho - SP, com o intuito de aumentar as funções ecológicas dos fragmentos e auxiliar no planejamento de manejo ambiental municipal. A declividade, as áreas de preservação permanente, o uso e a ocupação do solo e os fragmentos de vegetação natural do município foram calculados e mapeados usando técnicas de geoprocessamento. Para cada mapa base obtido, uma amplitude de valores de apoio à tomada de decisão foi determinada, por meio do método estatístico de análise multicritério (Análise Hierárquica de Processos- AHP), o que possibilitou a hierarquização das variáveis mapeadas, com ênfase na importância e nas alternativas que se encontram e no conjunto de indicadores que definem as áreas prioritárias à recuperação ecológica, tanto em áreas de preservação permanente, como em reservas legais, na forma da lei vigente. Os mapas das áreas indicadas à recuperação e das áreas potenciais para a implantação de corredores ecológicos resultaram da álgebra dos mapas base. A distribuição espacial dos fragmentos de vegetação natural na paisagem do município é aleatória e fragmentada, sob alto efeito de borda. Sugere-se a recuperação ecológica de 8.062 ha em áreas no entorno dos fragmentos existentes (áreas de amortecimento) e ao longo da rede de drenagem, bem como a implantação de corredores ecológicos (20,92 ha) na porção sudoeste do município. Os resultados obtidos permitem compor e enriquecer o Plano Diretor de Sertãozinho, dando direcionamento e aprimoramento ao planejamento, à gestão e à fiscalização ambiental do município. / Ecological recovery is the restitution of a degraded ecosystem to a non-degraded condition. It is an important strategy to reverse negative impacts on biodiversity conservation, which characterizes the importance of determining the location of environments that can be recovered. The objective of this work was to identify the ecological and potential ecological recovery areas in the city of Sertãozinho, SP, in order to increase the ecological functions of the fragments and to assist municipal environmental management planning. The slope of the areas, the permanent preservation areas, the land use, and the fragments of natural vegetation of the municipality were calculated and mapped using geoprocessing techniques. For each base map obtained, an amplitude of values to support decision making was determined through the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) in a structured technique for organizing and analyzing decisions do recover the environment. The statistical method allowed the hierarchy of mapped variables, with emphasis on importance and alternatives that make a set of indicators that define the priority areas for ecological recovery, both for permanent preservation areas and for possible legal reserves areas, to adequate the land to the current law. The maps of the areas indicated for recovery and the potential areas for the implantation of ecological corridors resulted from the algebra of the base maps. The spatial distribution of fragments of natural vegetation in the municipality landscape is random and fragmented, under high edge effect. It is suggested the ecological recovery of 8,062 ha in areas around the existing fragments (damping areas) and along the drainage network, as well as the implantation of ecological corridors (20.92 ha) in the southwest portion of the municipality. The results obtained allow us to compose and enrich the Sertãozinho Master Plan, giving direction and improvement to the planning, management and environmental control of the municipality.

För att främja landsbygdens utveckling och till följd av förändringar i markpolitiken tilläts genom lag bildandet av stora bostadsfastigheter på landsbygden 1990. Detta skulle ske genom att öka den enskildes möjlighet att utforma sin fastighet efter egna önskemål. Glesbygd, som är landsbygd karaktäriserad av gles befolkning, är mer utsatt för de problem som landsbygden står inför. Syftet med studien är att undersöka om det finns eller borde finnas en skillnad mellan lands- och glesbygden vid fastighetsbildning av stora bostadsfastigheter. Studien utförs genom en genomgång av rättskällor, tolkning av rättsfall och analys av Lantmäteriets praxis. Resultaten visar att flera rättsliga faktorer, nämligen skyddszon, extensivt nyttjande, skogsmark, jordbruksmark och fastighetens belägenhet i glesbygd påverkar tillåtligheten av att bilda stora bostadsfastigheter. Vidare visas att inga avsevärda skillnader mellan lands- och glesbygd i Lantmäteriets praxis finns. Därutöver så tyder tolkningen av rättsfall på att domstolarna inte alltid beaktar markpolitikens främjande av glesbygden. Det starkaste motstående intresset för bildandet av stora bostadsfastigheter ligger i skyddet av skogsnäringen, som även till stor del sammanfaller geografiskt med glesbygden. Resultaten tyder på att nuvarande rättsläge och markpolitik inte tillräckligt beaktar glesbygdens regionalpolitiska intressen, i form av främjande av boende och sysselsättning. / In order to promote rural development and due to land use policy changes, the formation of large residential properties in rural areas was permitted by law in 1990. This was to be made possible by increasing the opportunities for the individual to shape their real property according to their own requests. Sparsely populated areas, which are rural areas characterized by sparse population, are more prone to problems considered in rural development policies. The purpose of the study is to research if there is or should be a difference between rural and sparsely populated areas in formation of large residential properties. The study is performed through a review of legal sources, interpretation of judicial proceedings, and analysis of the property formation practice of Lantmäteriet. Presented results show that there are several judicial factors that affect the allowance to form large properties for residential purpose. The factors are protective zone, extensive use, forest land, agricultural land and real property location in sparsely populated areas. Further on, no substantial differences exist between rural and sparsely populated areas in the practices of Lantmäteriet. Moreover, the interpretation of judicial proceedings suggests that the courts do not always take into account the land use policies promotion of sparsely populated areas. The most inflexible opposing interest towards the creation of large residential properties resides in the protection of forestry land use, which also largely geographically coincides with sparsely populated areas. The findings suggest that current legal position and land policies do not sufficiently address the regional policy interests of sparsely populated areas.

Societies frequently implement land use policies to regulate resource extraction or to regulate development. However, two important policy questions remain unresolved. First, how effective are land use regulations? Second, how do land use regulations affect socioeconomic conditions? Three issues complicate the evaluation of land use policies: (1) overt bias may lead to incorrect estimates of policy effects if implementation is nonrandom; (2) the policy may affect outcomes in neighboring unregulated lands; and (3) unobservable differences between regulated and unregulated lands may lead to biased assessments. Previous evaluations of land use policies fail to address these sources of bias simultaneously. In this dissertation, I develop an approach, using matching methods, which jointly accounts for these complications. I apply the approach to evaluate the effects of Costa Rica s protected areas on land use and socioeconomic outcomes between 1960 and 2000. I find that: (1) protection prevented the deforestation of only 10 percent or less of protected forests; (2) protection resulted in reforestation of only 20 percent of non-forest areas that were protected; (3) protection had little effect on land use outside protected areas, most likely because, as noted above, protected areas had only small effects on land use inside protected areas; and (4) there is little evidence that protected areas had harmful impacts on the livelihoods of local communities: on the contrary, I find that protection had small positive effects on socioeconomic outcomes. Furthermore, the methods traditionally used to conduct such evaluations are biased. In contrast to the findings above, those conventional methods overestimated the amount of avoided deforestation and erroneously implied that protection had negative impacts on the livelihoods of local communities. This dissertation contributes to policymaking by providing empirical measures of protected area effectiveness. Although annual global expenditures on protected areas are about $6.5 billion, little is known to date about the returns on these investments. This study also indicates that policymakers should give careful consideration to current proposals to compensate communities living in or around protected areas: contrary to widely held assumptions, the findings suggest that protection may not have harmful effects on socioeconomic outcomes.

abstract: The sacred San Francisco Peaks in northern Arizona have been at the center of a series of land development controversies since the 1800s. Most recently, a controversy arose over a proposal by the ski area on the Peaks to use 100% reclaimed water to make artificial snow. The current state of the San Francisco Peaks controversy would benefit from a decision-making process that holds sustainability policy at its core. The first step towards a new sustainability-focused deliberative process regarding a complex issue like the San Francisco Peaks controversy requires understanding the issue's origins and the perspectives of the people involved in the issue. My thesis provides an historical analysis of the controversy and examines some of the laws and participatory mechanisms that have shaped the decision-making procedures and power structures from the 19th century to the early 21st century. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.A. Sustainability 2011

x, 117 p. : ill. (some col.) / This thesis interrogates the transfrontier conservation areas (TFCA) program of southern Africa. Promoted since the mid-1990s as the solution to the vexing problems of environmental degradation and rural development in the region, these cross-border projects have attracted a broad coalition of supporters including public and private donor groups, regional politicians, and the international conservation community. Though a large academic literature surrounds the program, a holistic understanding of its development--and an accounting of its success--has yet to emerge. This thesis seeks to rectify this by probing the nature and structure of transfrontier discourse, positing the program's success as directly born of its appeal to a triad of interests composed of donors, national politicians, and the regional conservation community. Further, it is argued that the heavy marketing of the program as a "win-win" scenario for conservation and development has effectively displaced once popular community-based narratives/approaches. / Committee in charge: Dennis C. Galvan, Chair; Alexander B. Murphy, Member; Derrick Hindery, Member