The Role of Nature Patterns in the Perception and Acceptability of Rural Density.

Abstract

Continuing current low density patterns of housing development would have significant environmental impact. The urgency of adopting higher-density patterns, however, runs counter to what is acceptable to the public, especially in rural areas. Though it is widely assumed that the opposition is to density, the concerns may be about a wide range of factors that can be addressed in ways that would achieve greater environmental sustainability. The purposes of this dissertation are to (1) disentangle some of these concerns from density, and (2) address these concerns via design, policy, and participatory approaches in order to offset the perceived negative impacts of increasing density. In particular, the focus is on patterns that address the importance that the natural environment affords rural residents.

Rural residents in Southeastern Michigan completed a survey that included 16 scenes of residential developments, varying in density as well as the arrangement of housing and nature on the parcel. Their ratings of the acceptability of each scene as well as attitudes regarding a variety of planning approaches that might offset the perceived negative impacts of a hypothetical dense development were related to geo-coded and other environmental information.

Results show that acceptability is significantly affected by the pattern of vegetation; scenes showing clustered housing with expanses of forest cover are more acceptable than developments that have the same number of houses evenly dispersed. Independent ratings of the developments for perceived density also show that integrating forest cover reduces the perceived level of density. Responses to the planning approaches suggest that preserving local landscapes is more important to rural residents than reducing traffic, promoting mixed residential and commercial land uses, and other strategies that are popular in urban areas. Examination of rural experience provides further insights for understanding the variation in responses.

These results suggest that the perceived negative impacts of higher density can be mitigated by a variety of strategies that emphasize the preservation of nature. Given the environmental impact of low density residential development, such straightforward approaches can simultaneously address citizen concerns and advance the requirements of sustainability.