To pave or not to pave: A social landscape analysis of land use decision-making in the Lamprey River watershed
type: CreativeWork
description: Seacoast New Hampshire's population has quadrupled in four decades resulting in sprawl and increased impervious surfaces which threaten the ecological health of Great Bay. Calls for watershed-based strategies addressing growth and land use planning abound. This study addresses these challenges by examining the question of whether there is a potential for watershed base land use decision-making. Using constructivist grounded theory, this study explores the social landscape of land use decision-making in a case study of the towns of the Lamprey River watershed. The qualitative methods include semi-structured interviews with GIS based maps and content analysis in NVivo software. Results include a proposed theoretical framework which characterizes the social landscape of land use decision-making concerning community, conflict and temporo-spatial scaling. Challenges and opportunities are also identified in moving towards watershed based land use decision-making. Conclusions represent a mix of optimistic and pessimistic themes regarding current land use decision-making and suggested recommendations necessary to move towards watershed-scaled land use planning.
abstract: Seacoast New Hampshire's population has quadrupled in four decades resulting in sprawl and increased impervious surfaces which threaten the ecological health of Great Bay. Calls for watershed-based strategies addressing growth and land use planning abound. This study addresses these challenges by examining the question of whether there is a potential for watershed base land use decision-making. Using constructivist grounded theory, this study explores the social landscape of land use decision-making in a case study of the towns of the Lamprey River watershed. The qualitative methods include semi-structured interviews with GIS based maps and content analysis in NVivo software. Results include a proposed theoretical framework which characterizes the social landscape of land use decision-making concerning community, conflict and temporo-spatial scaling. Challenges and opportunities are also identified in moving towards watershed based land use decision-making. Conclusions represent a mix of optimistic and pessimistic themes regarding current land use decision-making and suggested recommendations necessary to move towards watershed-scaled land use planning.
author: Washburn, Erika Lea
keywords: Environmental Management, Land Use Planning
date published: 2009-01-01T08:00:00Z
date modified: 2026-07-24T05:22:31Z
provider: University of New Hampshire
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of New Hampshire