Computational Decision Support for Socio-Technical Awareness of Land-Use Planning under Complexity—A Dam Resilience Planning Case Study

Land-use planning for modern societies requires technical competence as well as social competence. We therefore propose an integrative solution enabling better land-use planning and management through better-informed decision-making. We adapt a method developed for cross-disciplinary team building to identify the stakeholders and their various objectives and value systems. We use these results to populate artificial societies embedded into a dynamic data analytics framework as a tool to identify, explore, and visualize the challenges resulting from the different objectives and value systems in land-use planning and management. To prove the feasibility of the proposed solution, we present two use cases from the dam resilience planning domain, show how to apply the process and tools, and present the results. The solution is not limited to such use cases but can be generalized to address challenges in socio-technical systems, such as water resource evaluations or climate change effects

A synthesis of ecosystem management strategies for forests in the face of chronic nitrogen deposition

Total nitrogen (N) deposition has declined in many parts of the U.S. and Europe since the 1990s. Even so, it appears that decreased N deposition alone may be insufficient to induce recovery from the impacts of decades of elevated deposition, suggesting that management interventions may be necessary to promote recovery. Here we review the effectiveness of four remediation approaches (prescribed burning, thinning, liming, carbon addition) on three indicators of recovery from N deposition (decreased soil N availability, increased soil alkalinity, increased plant diversity), focusing on literature from the U.S. We reviewed papers indexed in the Web of Science since 1996 using specific key words, extracted data on the responses to treatment along with ancillary data, and conducted a meta-analysis using a three-level variance model structure. We found 69 publications (and 2158 responses) that focused on one of these remediation treatments in the context of N deposition, but only 29 publications (and 408 responses) reported results appropriate for our meta-analysis. We found that carbon addition was the only treatment that decreased N availability (effect size: −1.80 to −1.84 across metrics), while liming, thinning, and prescribed burning all tended to increase N availability (effect sizes: +0.4 to +1.2). Only liming had a significant positive effect on soil alkalinity (+10.5%–82.2% across metrics). Only prescribed burning and thinning affected plant diversity, but with opposing and often statistically marginal effects across metrics (i.e., increased richness, decreased Shannon or Simpson diversity). Thus, it appears that no single treatment is effective in promoting recovery from N deposition, and combinations of treatments should be explored. These conclusions are based on the limited published data available, underscoring the need for more studies in forested areas and more consistent reporting suitable for meta-analyses across studies

Evaluating the Contribution of City Initiatives towards Sustainability

Growing concerns over environmental degradation and resource availability issues have prompted an increased interest in strategic planning, aimed at better protecting environmental and ecosystem services while simultaneously promoting social inclusion and economic development. As large centers of population, economic activity and resource consumption, cities play an especially important role in achieving improved environmental quality, economic stability and social character. However, managing these impacts without compromising the economic and social character of the city can be challenging and complicated to implement. The response to this challenge has varied across metropolitan regions of the U.S. Several cities, including New York, Philadelphia and Seattle, have adopted comprehensive and broadly‐framed sustainability plans that address environmental, economic and social concerns. However, other cities have chosen to address urban sustainability by adopting separate environmental plans and social or economic initiatives that aim to address specific issues, such as energy efficiency, water quality, or economic development. While several frameworks and evaluations have been undertaken to determine whether a single comprehensive city sustainability plan can be considered adequate or effective, few have investigated the adequacy of the combined impact from multiple environmental, energy, climate, economic and/or social plans in cities without overarching sustainability plans. In this study, the proposed and recently accomplished initiatives undertaken by two cities, Washington, DC and Detroit, are compiled and evaluated against a set of sustainability criteria. Because the cities’ initiatives are not part of a comprehensive plan, the assembled initiatives were also evaluated against a set of governance criteria. This evaluation aims to identify, (1) whether the environmental, social and economic initiatives undertaken by two well‐established cities can be looked at together to address the common elements of comprehensive sustainability plans, and (2) whether they may be considered effective implementation plans. The paper will also investigate if there are particular strengths and weaknesses to these informal contributions toward sustainability. Evaluating these “decentralized” plans against a sustainability evaluation framework provides the following opportunities: • Determine if or whether the cities’ ongoing environmental, economic and social initiatives meet the general indicators associated with formal sustainability plans. • Identify the strengths and gaps in each city’s plans, and whether the strengths or gaps are consistent among multiple cities. • Investigate the potential effectiveness of the cities’ ongoing initiatives as an informal sustainability plan, especially with respect to implementation and tracking. The evaluation indicates that while both cities have established a number of initiatives in support of sustainable tenets, there are opportunities for improvement with regard to tracking and promoting the initiatives

Evaluating the Contribution of City Initiatives towards Sustainability

Growing concerns over environmental degradation and resource availability issues have prompted an increased interest in strategic planning, aimed at better protecting environmental and ecosystem services while simultaneously promoting social inclusion and economic development. As large centers of population, economic activity and resource consumption, cities play an especially important role in achieving improved environmental quality, economic stability and social character. However, managing these impacts without compromising the economic and social character of the city can be challenging and complicated to implement. The response to this challenge has varied across metropolitan regions of the U.S. Several cities, including New York, Philadelphia and Seattle, have adopted comprehensive and broadly‐framed sustainability plans that address environmental, economic and social concerns. However, other cities have chosen to address urban sustainability by adopting separate environmental plans and social or economic initiatives that aim to address specific issues, such as energy efficiency, water quality, or economic development. While several frameworks and evaluations have been undertaken to determine whether a single comprehensive city sustainability plan can be considered adequate or effective, few have investigated the adequacy of the combined impact from multiple environmental, energy, climate, economic and/or social plans in cities without overarching sustainability plans. In this study, the proposed and recently accomplished initiatives undertaken by two cities, Washington, DC and Detroit, are compiled and evaluated against a set of sustainability criteria. Because the cities’ initiatives are not part of a comprehensive plan, the assembled initiatives were also evaluated against a set of governance criteria. This evaluation aims to identify, (1) whether the environmental, social and economic initiatives undertaken by two well‐established cities can be looked at together to address the common elements of comprehensive sustainability plans, and (2) whether they may be considered effective implementation plans. The paper will also investigate if there are particular strengths and weaknesses to these informal contributions toward sustainability. Evaluating these “decentralized” plans against a sustainability evaluation framework provides the following opportunities: • Determine if or whether the cities’ ongoing environmental, economic and social initiatives meet the general indicators associated with formal sustainability plans. • Identify the strengths and gaps in each city’s plans, and whether the strengths or gaps are consistent among multiple cities. • Investigate the potential effectiveness of the cities’ ongoing initiatives as an informal sustainability plan, especially with respect to implementation and tracking. The evaluation indicates that while both cities have established a number of initiatives in support of sustainable tenets, there are opportunities for improvement with regard to tracking and promoting the initiatives

Building resilience to extreme weather events in Phoenix: Considering contaminated sites and disadvantaged communities

The interplay of contaminated sites, climate change, and disadvantaged communities are a growing concern worldwide. Worsening extreme events may result in accidental contaminant releases from sites and waste facilities that may impact nearby communities. If such communities are already suffering from environmental, economic, health, or social burdens, they may face disproportionate impacts. Equitable resilience planning to address effects of extreme events requires information on where the impacts may be, when they may occur, and who might be impacted. Because resources are often scarce for these communities, conducting detailed modeling may be cost-prohibitive. By considering indicators for four sources of vulnerability (changing extreme heat conditions, contaminated sites, contaminant transport via wind, and population sensitivities) in one holistic framework, we provide a scientifically robust approach that can assist planners with prioritizing resources and actions. These indicators can serve as screening measures to identify communities that may be impacted most and isolate the reasons for these impacts. Through a transdisciplinary case study conducted in Maricopa County (Arizona, USA), we demonstrate how the framework and geospatial indicators can be applied to inform plans for preparedness, response, and recovery from the effects of extreme heat on contaminated sites and nearby populations. The indicators employed in this demonstration can be applied to other locations with contaminated sites to build community resilience to future climate impacts