Spatial Land Use Change and Ecological Effects (SLUCE)

University of Michigan (School of Natural Resources and Environment), Principal Investigator (PI) Dr. Daniel G. Brown

Selection of the degree of fidelity versus parsimony when answering and modelling a problem, especially one that lies within a complex system, often leads to an iterative process between data collection and modelling. Within the SLUCE project, much of my involvement incorporated similar decisions, i.e. expanding the development of a model or eliminating model components. The project initially developed a LUCC model named SOME (SLUCE’s Original Model for Exploration) that incorporated two factors into residential location decision-making:

  1. aesthetic quality, and
  2. nearness to service centers (i.e. urban amenities).

I expanded the SOME conceptual model to include a third factor, whereby settling residential households formed measurements of neighbourhood similarity between their preferences and those already established residents. Using results from a household survey (Fernandez et al. 2005), Daniel Brown and I empirically justified these three factors and used the data to inform the preference weights of the population of residential household agents in the SOME model. We incorporated the survey data at several different levels of analysis that altered the number of agent categories and variation in agent preferences (Brown and Robinson 2006). Results from this work illustrated that

  1. introducing variability in preferences increased the amount of agent dispersion, or sprawl, the model produced,
  2. relationships between groups of similar agents indicated that agent preferences, and their distributions across various factors, affect spatial patterns of development and the utility achieved by agents, and
  3. generalist agents achieved highest average utility levels. The group then developed a more complex conceptual model that incorporated farms, developers, subdivisions, and townships in addition to residential households.

I coauthored a paper with the group on linking empirical data to these two conceptual models (Brown et al. In Press). Altogether I coauthored three publications under the SLUCE project and presented related research at four conferences. The NSF Biocomplexity in the Environment Program (BCS-0119804) project ultimately led me to a forth publication and dissertation chapter (Robinson and Brown Submitted).