SRS-RN: The Continuum of Urbanity as an Organizing Concept to Promote Sustainability in the Mid-Hudson Region

了解人们如何在一个城市地区不断扩大的世界中可持续地生活，对于支持幸福和健康的社区至关重要。然而，人们对城乡之间的联系、过去的人类活动、COVID-19等新压力以及气候变化将如何影响这些地区的可持续性知之甚少。哈德逊河谷为了解如何提高可持续性提供了一个独特的机会。这个山谷靠近一个大型城市中心，那里的人们正从城市中心搬到农村地区。山谷的许多乡村和野生生态系统仍然完好无损，这使得人们有可能了解从城市中心迁移的人口将如何影响这些系统。该项目将把不同的利益相关者聚集在一起，就哈德逊河谷的可持续性规划一项大规模的研究、教育和社区参与计划，其结果也可能有助于提高美国其他地区的可持续性。该项目以一个总体问题为指导：“连通性的变化如何与过去的人类行为相互作用，从而为城市的可持续发展、适应和转型创造障碍和机会？”连续统理论认为，生计、生活方式、区域景观结构和功能的可测量条件与连通性变化的驱动因素相互作用。哈德逊河谷地区（HVR）包括从纽约市北部到纽约州奥尔巴尼的城市和农村地区。HVR是一个理想的测试案例，因为它在地理上和历史上都是可以理解的，因为它是一个有着悠久的城乡互动历史和日益增长的连通性的系统。未来的研究和利益相关者参与计划将回答这一首要问题，同时帮助指导HVR走向更可持续的未来，将实现四个目标：1)从核心研究团队向外工作，建立一个由社会和经济科学家、生态学家、土地变化研究人员、人文主义者和代表社区团体、环境和规划非营利组织、城市设计公司和政府机构的利益相关者组成的包容性网络；2)收集和分析现有的区域和地方可持续发展计划，以了解当前HVR多个尺度的目标；3)促进利益相关者的互动，并告知与这些利益相关者的联合工作；4)与利益相关者确定研究范围。研究范围将基于(a)实践者、决策者、社区和学术界共同感兴趣的共同研究问题；(b)确定的焦点生态系统或社会生态地点；(c)为每个焦点适当设定空间和时间尺度；(d)区域变化和连通性的关键测量；(e)促进与社区公平和公正接触的战略。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Learning how people can sustainably live in a world where urban areas are increasing is critical to support happy and healthy communities. However, it is poorly understood how connections between urban and rural areas, past human actions, new pressures like COVID-19, and climate change will affect the sustainability of these regions. The Hudson Valley presents a unique opportunity to understand how to improve sustainability. The valley is close to a large urban center where people are moving to rural areas from urban centers. Many of the valley’s rural and wild ecosystems are still intact, making it possible to understand how the migration of people from the urban centers will affect these systems. The project will bring together diverse stakeholders to plan a large-scale research, education, and community engagement program on the sustainability of the Hudson Valley, with results that could also help improve sustainability in other regions of the nation.This project is guided by an overarching question: “How do changes in connectivity interact with past human actions to create barriers and opportunities for sustainable development, adaptation, and transformation across a continuum of urbanity?” Continuum theory suggests that measurable conditions of livelihood, lifestyle, and regional landscape structure and function interact with the drivers of changing connectivity. The Hudson Valley Region (HVR) includes urban and rural areas from north of New York City to Albany, NY. The HVR is an ideal test case because it is geographically and historically understandable as a system with a long history of urban-rural interactions and increasing connectivity. A future research and stakeholder engagement program that answers the overarching question while helping guide the HVR towards a more sustainable future, will meet four goals: 1) Work outward from the core research team to build an inclusive network of social and economic scientists, ecologists, land change researchers, humanists, and stakeholders representing community groups, environmental and planning non-profits, urban design firms, and government agencies; 2) Collect and analyze existing regional and local sustainability plans to understand current goals at multiple scales across HVR; 3) Facilitate stakeholder interaction and inform joint work with these stakeholders; and 4) Identify the scope of research with stakeholders. The scope of research will be based on (a) co-produced research questions of mutual interest to practitioners, policy makers, communities, and academics; (b) identified focal ecosystems or social-ecological places; (c) appropriately set spatial and temporal scales for each focus; (d) key measurements of regional change and connectivity; and (e) strategies to promote equitable and just engagement with communities.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.