UNH And Applied Geosolutions,
Llc, Offer New Urban Planning Tools For Rockingham And Strafford
Contact: Dolores Jalbert
March 30, 2005
DURHAM, N.H.--- A new set of urban planning tools, developed by
researchers at the University of New Hampshire and Applied GeoSolutions,
LLC, of Durham, is transforming the hindsight of historic patterns
of development into a 20/20 vision of the future for Seacoast communities.
researchers have integrated aerial maps and land use data from Rockingham
and Strafford counties into a digital Geographic Information Systems
(GIS) archive that tracks changes in the region’s residential,
industrial and agricultural development from 1962 to 1998. They
also created a computer model that forecasts where and how future
growth will take place—information that communities need to
better manage watersheds, estuaries, open land and other resources.
The project is funded through the Cooperative Institute for Coastal
and Environmental Estuarine Environmental Technology (CICEET), a
partnership between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA) and UNH, dedicated to creating technology for cleaner water
and healthy coastal environments.
“Planners need better ways of understanding past and current
patterns of development if they are to make decisions that accommodate
future growth while protecting water quality and natural resources,”
says Fay Rubin, the scientist in UNH’s Complex Systems Research
Center who co-leads the project with William Salas of Applied Geosolutions.
“They can use these tools to understand and manage growth
in a way that reduces water pollution, whether it comes from urban
stormwater runoff, or an industrial or municipal source.”
For example, parking lots, roads, buildings and other impervious
surfaces associated with development threaten water quality by increasing
polluted runoff and reducing groundwater recharge. Planners can
use the GIS archive as the basis to estimate the impact of impervious
surfaces on water quality, and with this benchmark in hand, forecast
how impervious surface associated with future growth might further
Rubin, Salas, and a team of associates including David Justice,
GIS project manager, and Sam Lingeman, GIS analyst, have scanned,
processed and archived more than 1,400 photos to create the archive.
What the archive reveals about Seacoast development will not surprise
anyone who has lived through the boom—farmland is disappearing,
and acreage developed for suburban, urban and industrial use is
on the rise.
Accessible through the GRANIT web site (http://www.granit.sr.unh.edu),
workshops and by CD/ROM, the archive offers the first comprehensive
“snapshot” of the Seacoast region at three points in
time: 1962, 1974, and 1998. The high level of detail in the photography
makes it possible to distinguish farmland from wetland, commercial
from residential developments, and even make out structures as small
as a pier.
To inform a predictive computer module that planners can use to
forecast future development pressures, Salas has used this archive
to compare historic development patterns to economic, demographic
and transportation data, as well as biophysical information such
as soil type, topography and proximity to water bodies.
“The model identifies how access to economic opportunities
and local biophysical conditions influenced historic development,
and uses this knowledge to predict where the development pressures
will be greatest,” explains Salas. “It is assumed that
land will be used for whatever brings the highest value, but ‘value’
can vary. Land that is relatively closer to Boston, for example,
is more likely to have a higher value as a residential property
and be developed.”
While the archive and the predictive model have been tailored to
support Seacoast communities, the project methodologies also will
be useful for statewide agencies, as well as for other regions in
need of a model to develop similar planning tools.
“When you are planning a major initiative, like the Interstate
93 expansion, it is critical to coordinate with land use and transportation
planners at the community level,” says Ansel Sanborn of New
Hampshire’s Bureau of Transportation Planning. “Tools
like these can inform their planning process so that they understand
the larger impact of a local decision.”
Editors: High-resolution photos of Rockingham County Land Use
in 1962 and 1998 are available for download at: