To pave or not to pave: A social landscape analysis of land use decision-making in the Lamprey River watershed
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.
Environmental Management, Land Use Planning
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