Abstract

Teaching the Costs of Urban Sprawl with Citygreen and ArcGIS
Track: Teaching with GIS in Higher Education
Author(s): Randall Wilson

This case study presents the lessons learned from a senior seminar project conducted by Environmental Studies majors at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania. Research focused on a proposed subdivision developments in Adams County. The class objectives were two-fold: 1) to provide a quantitative measure of the ecological impacts of land cover change associated with the proposed development, and 2) use these data to develop an alternative model allowing for sub-division growth while minimizing the negative ecological and socio-ecological outcomes. The study employed ArcGIS 9.x and the Citygreen extension by American Forests. Results demonstrate the feasibility of an alternative sub-division design using methods that serve not only as effective pedagogical tools for students, but as practical tools for local governments in mitigating the negative effects of urban sprawl.

Randall Wilson
Gettysburg College
Department of Environmental Studies
300 N. Washington Street
Gettysburg , Pennsylvania 17325
United States
Phone: 717-337-6034
E-mail: rwilson@gettysburg.edu