A Socioecological Investigation of the Impacts of Uneven Exurban Development and Sea-Level Rise on Socioeconomically Differentiated Communities.

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This project investigates how the interconnected socio-ecological processes of uneven exurban development, growing urban-rural connections, and potential increased flooding due to sea-level rise interact to transform land-use and vulnerability in coastal environments. The investigators will analyze how historical landscape modifications increase the vulnerability to flooding of marginalized coastal communities, and how that vulnerability impacts current economic development strategies intended to increase rural community resilience amidst increasing exurban development pressures. A coupled socio-ecological approach will be used in to understand the dynamics of regional population growth and the possible impacts of sea-level rise on coastal landscapes and communities. Despite widespread recognition, the uneven ways that the history of racial inequality has raised vulnerability for some while decreasing it for others continues to be absent from much of the research that is explicitly socio-ecological, and this project seeks to add this aspect. Findings from this research project will improve planning along vulnerable coastlines by providing relevant information to state and local government managers. Additionally, the research will create educational, training, and engagement opportunities for diverse scholars, undergraduate, and graduate students.To understand the broader importance of uneven exurban development on differential communities and the impact of sea-level rise through interconnected interactions, the theoretical framing of this research will integrate insights from, and contribute to theory on, political ecology, Long-Term Socio-Ecological Research, and geographic studies of race relations. The investigators will use a mixed methods approach for data collection and analysis including archival research and ethnographic methods as well as land-use and land-cover change analysis along with hydrologic mapping. Through a case study of Sapelo Island, Georgia, this project asks three specific questions: (1) How did racialized agricultural development and population dynamics drive changes to Sapelo Island's drainage ditch network across antebellum, postbellum, and State-owned periods? (2) To what extent does the contemporary drainage ditch network increase the likelihood of vulnerability to flooding driven by future sea-level rise? (3) How will African-American economic development strategies be impacted by the coupled dynamics of socio-demographic change and sea-level rise inundation? The investigators hypothesize that the same ditches that current African-American residents'ancestors built as slaves could now worsen sea level inundation and prevent those same communities from realizing their economic development objectives.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.