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The Hixon Center for Urban Ecology wishes to build research relationships with FES students who are interested in urban ecology. Student Research Interns are chosen from a pool of competitive applicants based on their research proposal’s connection to current Hixon Center research, the outreach potential of that research and its relevance to the continued study of urban ecology. For more information on student research internships, please visit the Hixon Center Web site research awards and scholarships page. Following are brief project descriptions and research paper links for the 2000 – 2006 interns.
Manja P. Holland Katrina Jessoe James McConaghie Kate Neville
Mohamad
A. Chakaki Joel
Creswell Tomas
Delgado Rachel
Gruzen Manja
P. Holland Rita
Lohani Robyn
Meeks
Amy
Kimball Amy Kimball (MF ’05) worked with the Trust for Public Land in Washington, D.C. to conduct nationwide research on the user profile of urban park visitors. After speaking with park managers from around the country, she compiled a list of best practices for enumerating and understanding park users. Her findings concluded that surprisingly few urban park systems have a reliable and consistent method for assessing how many people frequent these public amenities. However, in the case of parks that count and communicate with their users, the data indicate the importance of these public spaces to cities. Amy’s findings will be incorporated into a larger Trust for Public Land project to assess the economic value of urban parks.
Emily Levin (MEM '05) traveled to New Delhi, India to work with the Centre for Science and Environment. Her research addressed community-based water management in India’s urban and rural regions. Emily assisted with the design of rainwater harvesting systems for sites across New Delhi, a city that faces a crisis due to plummeting groundwater levels and an unreliable municipal water supply. She also documented case studies of decentralized wastewater treatment and recycling systems, which may help to reduce the discharge of untreated sewage to Delhi's Yamuna River. Lastly, she investigated the effectiveness of rural watershed programs in three arid states. This fall, Emily authored an article about using local water harvesting as an alternative to the development of large dams in the western Indian state of Gujarat.
Amy Shatzkin (MEM ’05) worked with the International Council of Local Environmental Initiatives to research the connection between smart growth measures and domestic greenhouse gas emissions. Under the auspices of the organization’s Cities for Climate Protection program, Amy developed a resource guide on sprawl and climate change for city government official and drafted the template for a municipal greenhouse gas protocol. In assessing the greenhouse gas inventory reports of 26 municipalities, she also found that green building design measures were the most frequently adopted and evaluated, while land use planning measures were the least frequently implemented and enumerated. Conducting greenhouse gas inventories allows planning officials to evaluate work towards reducing their community’s impact on global climate change while also assessing the efficacy of smart growth measures.
Daniel Stonington (MEM ’05) conducted projects with the Growth Management Leadership Alliance (GMLA). The group is a network of leaders from state, provincial and regional organizations in the United States and Canada that carry out programs to directly shape and implement smart growth policies and actions. Dan researched current federal policies that directly effected land use decision-makers at state, regional, and local levels. He also worked to develop preliminary findings and conclusions for changing federal land use policies. Drawing on his research, Dan drafted an executive summary of findings to explain how the federal government should focus on strategies for communication and implementation of smart growth policies.
Jonathan Strunin (MEM ’05) created a variety of reports and online articles for InfoOakland, a small NGO based in Oakland, CA. The organization is dedicated to informing low-income groups and communities of color about resources and information available to them. Jonathan worked on the organization’s Oaktown Datahouse to facilitate citizen access to a variety of information about the city, to provide information about housing and redevelopment and to train residents about using these resources for advocacy campaigns.
Elena Traister (MESc ’05) spent the summer and fall of 2004 collecting and analyzing water samples from eleven sites throughout the Hoosic River Watershed in northwestern Massachusetts. Her research was undertaken to better understand the temporal and spatial patterns of bacterial fluctuation to better understand how riparian systems are impacted by bacterial pollution. Her preliminary findings indicate that diurnal and storm-related patterns of e.coli concentration exist in the watershed. Elena’s work will enhance the effectiveness of the methodologies used by water quality monitoring programs in the watershed, and improve the ability of these programs to deal with water quality issues in the future. Finally, her research will contribute to a broader understanding of the behavior of pollutants and their ecological effects on rivers over time. 2003 Student Research Interns Raji
Dhital Raji Dhital studied the rural-urban linkages in the agriculture market system between two villages and a city of Eastern Nepal. She studied the local and global forces that shape the agriculture market system, which have micro-level implications in the lives of rural farmers. In case of Nepal, some of the most important factors that affected the rural urban agriculture market were the land distribution, national policies of Nepal and trade relations with India- all of which are deeply connected with the political history of Nepal.
Margarita Fernandez’s research consisted of identifying the social benefits provided by community gardens. Working with Operation GreenThumb, who recommended the 10 research garden sites in the Melrose section of the South Bronx, Fernandez also ascertained the types of management schemes community leaders have developed to manage these community spaces.
The Urban Ecology Institute’s most recent initiative, the Community Forest Partnership, is a partnership of several public and private organizations working to improve the urban forest. As the first intern for the Community Forester Program, Cindy Kushner worked with three well-established non-profit groups on a variety of projects. Each had its own goals, though all ultimately hoping to build environmental stewardship and a stronger community by improving the urban forest and motivating people to come together and work in ways they may not have in the past.
The paper discusses challenges, trends, and transitions in the urban environment field and offers an approach to meeting Millennium Development Goal (MDG) targets in water supply and sanitation in urban areas. It updates the author’s 1994 publication Urban Environmental Challenges: New Directions for Technical Assistance to Cities in Developing Countries, published by the World Resources Institute. This paper begins by describing governance, decentralization, and privatization trends and drawing lessons from international development experiences in cities in developing countries. It argues that pervasive governance problems have led to environmental service deficits, particularly amongst the poor,who, at the same time, have demonstrated tremendous ingenuity in obtaining for themselves what their municipalities have not provided. The paper examines the global urban environmental agenda through a review of summit meetings and key initiatives of major international development agencies.This review of the global agenda – from Rio to Johannesburg – leads to the judgment that the most important urban environmental challenges today are defined by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). It argues that meeting MDG targets related to poverty alleviation, access to water and sanitation, and improvements in the lives of slum dwellers will provide the greatest improvement to environmental quality in urban areas.
Called “a city on the environmental edge,” New Orleans has probably always seemed (to the outsider) to be both impossible and inevitable. New Orleans’ location in the highly productive but fragile deltaic plain of south Louisiana has proved to be of unparalleled strategic value throughout the city’s history, while at the same time defying human attempts to discipline the landscape. The following interrelated ecological factors affect the biophysical ecosystem of southern Louisiana: the Mississippi River trying to change course, land subsidence, coastal erosion, sea level rise, saltwater intrusion, a predicted increase in destruction from hurricanes, increased incidence and severity of flooding, and a spreading apoxic lesion in the Gulf of Mexico. Whether or not these factors can be treated is a question that will only be answered after billions of dollars are spent on restoration projects. 2002 Student Research Interns Olivia
Carpenter Carpenter
is
studying the social ecology and environmental values surrounding a 40-acre
park in Camden, NJ. She is using the park’s dilapidated state
to illustrate the disconnect among planning, education and environmental
agencies and services within the city.
Edgerton is working with the Hamden, CT community to conduct a health study of the neighborhood across from Hamden Middle School. The school and neighboring community were built on soil contaminated by the landfill-borne waste from an ammunitions plant. While the school site had been the focus of attention, the community across the street and Vic’s work are now the subject of public interest.
Finnegan is using his skills as a filmmaker to teach children how to document their environment and community. At the end of his environmental education/documentary filmmaking program, he will assess whether or not environmental education can change students‚ perceptions about the environment and whether or not those changes in perception will lead to changes in behavior.
Goldberg identifies the characteristics of successful urban open spaces, looks for such spaces in Bangkok, Thailand, finds that several of the spaces are partnerships, and then asks what makes those partnerships successful. He determines four key features that significantly contributed to each partnership’s effectiveness in the creation of successful urban open spaces, such as [1] secured land control by a landowner; [2] a top-down land allocation process; [3] a political champion; and, [4] resources provided by each partner. These findings provide guidance for officers of public agencies, communities and corporations who seek to partner with the private, government and, community sectors to create successful urban open spaces.
Campaña is studying the development and architecture of the Promenade Platee in Paris, an abandoned raised railroad track converted into a park. This process and design reveals the potential for New York’s proposed High Line, a neglected elevated rail structure built in the 1930s on the West Side of Manhattan. He is comparing the architectural, economic, and natural aspects of both projects to assess the development potential of the High Line.
Miller began his research at the Portland, Oregon office of sustainable development, where he studied issues of urban runoff and incentive programs to develop rainwater catchments. He then compared residential applications of these systems to the requirements of LEED guidelines, and is currently pursuing research into how both applications tie into human values of water.
Pascasio is studying the complexities of large-scale watershed planning and management. Her research uses a policy sciences methodology for “mapping the social context” to examine the conflict over the use of water resources within the watershed of the São Francisco River in Northeast Brazil. The methodology identifies participants and their perspectives in the debate over water use and is used as part of a larger process that seeks to develop public policies in a manner that promotes the common interest.
Shah is researching the establishment of a pricing system for reliable water services in Zanzibar Town on the island country of Zanzibar. His work will include using contingency valuation methods to evaluate government policy options for financing and managing public water supplies. 2001 Student Research Interns Catherine
Ashcraft Ashcraft tested water quality in Sodom Brook. This research was part of continuing studies of bacteria levels in tributaries of the Quinnipiac River. Her data showed that Sodom Brook regularly exceeds water quality standards for both fecal coliform and Escherichia coli, with a larger percent of exceedences occurring during wet flows. She concluded that due to these differences, an accurate sampling strategy would include both wet and dry flow data.
Camacho used epigaeic insect fauna to develop site evaluation criteria for urban lots based on conservation value. Camacho gathered data from various urban areas. He found that the slowest-dispersing insect species are the most vulnerable, and the most biologically diverse sites are those near urban natural areas.
Etre tracked vacant properties in urban areas. The reuse of urban vacant land can bring higher densities to the urban core, while helping to curb urban sprawl by reducing the demand for development in suburban greenfields. Etre found that approximately one-half of U.S. cities do not formally track vacant land, while just over two-thirds of cities do not track abandoned structures. The major barrier to conducting inventories appeared to be the costs of staffing and technology. A national inventory-funding program could assist cities with overcoming these cost barriers.
Fisman explored how greenspaces affect children's development. An exploratory study was performed with two third-grade classes at Worthington Hooker Elementary School in New Haven. The research highlighted information that can be utilized in future studies, such as mechanisms behind solitary play, identifying the types of spaces and activities that encourage social integration and the role of the “natural” versus the “built” environment of the children’s behavior in the schoolyard. Fisman emphasized the value of children as designers of the schoolyard, as they are the ones who use the space.
Thurlow analyzed the formation of Dominica’s public-private partnership in the provision of energy services. She developed a case study to both illustrate and examine the private sector’s ability to provide energy, especially regarding issues in the protection of Morne Trois Pitons National Park. She also looked for ways to expand public involvement in these partnerships that provide urban services. This research was part of a larger project on the socioeconomic analysis of tourism strategies in Dominica. 2000 Student Research Interns Alexis
Dinno Dinno examined the impact of URI community Greenspace programs on both the socio-physical character of abandoned lots and on the well being of residents living on blocks that contain abandoned lots in the Fair Haven neighborhood of New Haven.
Rosenthal studied the impact on the urban poor of the privatization of metropolitan Manila’s water and sanitation network. Shemitz studied the history, science and policy regarding lead poisoning. By drawing upon lessons learned by scientists in the field, Shemitz researched how environmental hazards are detected, obstacles to the accurate measurement of these contaminants, and variation in exposure patterns of special subpopulations.
Wells studied the causes of sprawl in Ringwood, New Jersey and the large-scale dynamics of state and regional agencies affecting land use in the Highlands, and areas that runs through the northern part of the state. Based on her study, Wells found that the causes of sprawl include a lack of regional planning and ecological accounting.
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