Planning for Open Space Conservation: Using GIS to Match Cultural Values and Ecological Quality of Open Spaces.

Abstract

The dilemma for open space conservation in exurbia is that, while people move to exurbia for open space experiences and to be closer to environments that they perceive as natural, exurban development occupies open space and impacts the structure, function and dynamics of ecological systems. The aim of this dissertation is to explore the values associated with living near open space, which is essential to successful conservation efforts because of the critical role that human preference can play in strategic exurban planning and the future shape of broader landscape patterns. Three issues are discussed in three Chapters. Chapter II examines how nearby open space and differences among types of open spaces, may be related to exurban residents’ home-buying choices. It suggests that open space plays an important role in exurban homeowners’ home-buying choices. And exurban homeowners have varied preferences for different types of open spaces, which should be designed / planed with different strategies. Chapter III is a theoretical exploration of potential causal explanations for relationships between preference for having open space near one’s home and actually having open space landuse / landcover (LULC) near one’s home. It suggests that people’s choice of living environment, may cause them to value nearby open space, rather than nearby open space inculcating human preference. And, maintaining forests and wetlands as a part of exurban landscapes can be part of strategic planning efforts that satisfy respondents’ preference and simultaneously preserve open space as natural habitat. Chapter IV investigates potentials and challenges of using landscape metrics to infer cultural values of landscapes. The study suggests that landscape metrics may not validly measure landcover characteristics that are related to some landscape cultural values for many possible reasons including: inherent limitations of metrics tested, construct differences between planimetric data and landscape experience, data resolution etc. People are generally unwilling to give up their desires and needs, but we can use what we know about human preference and need to formulate new landscape patterns. A better understanding of the values associated with living near open space will contribute to the development of new sustainable landscape patterns in exurbia.