land management assignment

 

1. What were the principal European influences on the layout of early New England Towns?(10 points)

 

2. Jean Gottmann was a French geographer, a contemporary of Jane Jacobs and William H. Whyte. He lived in the United States and wrote about the Urban Settlement Pattern he observed emerging in the U.S. shaped by market forces. Identify the theme or themes of Gottmann’s seminal work, Megalopolis. Imagine that we are writing an update of his book today. Assess whether there would be any changes in thinking and writing. You should refer to sources (except for Wikipedia). Please cite your sources properly.

 

a. How would land development trends in the intervening years then and now change the picture he presented (5 points).

 

b. Although Gottmann was generally optimistic about American’s confidence in our ability to solve problems, do you think he would feel that his main area of concern has proven to be justified? (5 points)

 

3. How did history and geography combine to development and suburbanization of Roxbury, West Roxbury, and Dorchester? (5 points)

 

4. Compare and contrast the following tools for implementing land use management goals and objectives. (Please include constitutional and statutory references to considerations of policy power and eminent domain principles that underlie each of these land use management tools and give examples of land use management objectives for which each might be suited.)(20 points total)
a. Regulations such as zoning, special environmental protection ordinances, etc.
b. Public purchase of land outright (fee simple ownership) to keep it out of development altogether.
c. Public purchase of easements (less than full fee ownership) such as the right to change its use, or the right to develop it with structures, transferable development rights, etc.
d. Transferable development rights

 

5. How did the FHWA and VA home mortgage programs of post-World War II affect the following:

 

a. Housing production? Describe the mechanism through which these programs were designed to influence normal private sector market operations and the results. (5 points)

 

b. The expansion patterns of urban settlements in the U.S? Give examples of the latter from your reference jurisdiction or another jurisdiction with you are familiar? (5 points)

 

6. Demographic trends show that, with the aging of the “baby boom generation” older adults represent one of the faster growing segments of the United States population. Please discuss what environmental implications this could have for regional and local land use patterns across the United States (5 points).

 

7. Think of a metropolitan area as a circle.

 

a. What happens to the area within the circle as the circle’s’ radius
i. Doubles?
ii. Triples?
iii. What happens if the radius grows to four times its original length? (5 points)

 

b. Now imagine a circle with a 3-mile radius to be a hypothetical metropolitan area with relatively little undeveloped land inside. If the radius of this hypothetical metropolitan area is extended to 10 miles, how much land is added to the original developed area? (Note: Use 3.1416 as the value of π in your formula for the area of your circle. There are 640 acres in a square mile.) (5 points)

 

c. What does this exercise suggest to you in terms of land-use management challenges facing your reference jurisdiction? You may use as the center of your circle the center of the metropolitan area nearest to your reference jurisdiction or the nearest edge city or major employment center. Do indicate, however, what your “center” is. Using a map could be a help to you in organizing your thoughts to answer this question. Be specific. (5 points)

 

8. There are two parts to the following question. You may use the Webliography or other sources. Please cite your sources properly. (10 points total)

 

a. List the steps involved in converting rural land into development. You may use your reference description or another location in the United States.

 

b. Indicate the points in the process where actions of governmental agencies intersect or control the decisions of the private sector actors in the process. Where is public input considered? Be sure to represent what levels of government are the public decision-makers representing? It may be helpful to use a Microsoft Word table to organize the decision-making process.

 

9. Describe the Supreme Court Case that restricted the use of zoning to control coastal development (i.e., case involves South Carolina). Do you agree with the decision; why or why not? ( 5 points)

10. What are the primary arguments used by individuals and groups that disavow man-made climate change? Do you agree with their perspectives and use of data. Why or why not?