North Central Research Station

Landscape Change Integrated Program
- What Do We Do About Landscape Change?

Intro Public Policies Goal Tradeoffs Impacts Guidelines Community Identities

Responding to a Growing Concern

The public sector in the United States has responded to growing concern about the social and environmental costs of sprawling development patterns by creating a wide range of policy instruments designed to manage urban growth and protect open space. A panoply of techniques has been implemented at the local, regional, State, and to a limited extent, national levels. Three broad categories of these policy instruments are land acquisition, regulations and incentives.

Scientists at the North Central Research Station are beginning to study these approaches to managing urban growth, including the process of land acquisition and protection, the potential impacts of land protection on spatial pattern of development, and the benefits of open-space neighborhoods. In addition, NCRS researchers are leading an effort to identify community identities and understand how they help form a shared vision of protecting valued places in the face of landscape change.

The following research highlights demonstrate North Central Research Station's efforts to answer the question "What do we do about landscape change?"

Public Policies for Managing Urban Growth and Protecting Open Space
Goal Tradeoffs in Metropolitan Open-Space Protection
Impacts of Open-Space Protection on Development Pattern
Guidelines for Open-Space Neighborhoods on the Urban Fringe
Community Identities as Visions for Landscape Change

USDA Forest Service - North Central Research Station
Last Modified: Friday, 16 January 2004