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

该项目调查了不平衡的郊区发展，不断增长的城乡联系以及由于海平面上升而可能增加的洪水的相互关联的社会生态过程如何相互作用，以改变沿海环境的土地利用和脆弱性。 研究人员将分析历史景观的变化如何增加边缘化沿海社区对洪水的脆弱性，以及这种脆弱性如何影响当前的经济发展战略，这些战略旨在增加农村社区在日益增长的郊区发展压力中的恢复力。 将采用一种社会-生态结合的办法，以了解区域人口增长的动态以及海平面上升对沿海景观和社区可能产生的影响。 尽管人们普遍认识到，种族不平等的历史增加了一些人的脆弱性，同时减少了另一些人的脆弱性，这种不平衡的方式仍然没有出现在许多明确的社会生态研究中，本项目试图增加这一方面。 该研究项目的结果将通过向州和地方政府管理人员提供相关信息，改善沿着脆弱海岸线的规划。 此外，该研究将为不同的学者，本科生和研究生创造教育，培训和参与机会。为了了解不均衡的郊区发展对不同社区的更广泛的重要性以及海平面上升通过相互作用的影响，本研究的理论框架将整合政治生态学，长期社会生态研究，和种族关系的地理研究。调查人员将采用混合方法收集和分析数据，包括档案研究和人种学方法以及土地使用和土地覆盖变化分析沿着水文制图。 通过对格鲁吉亚萨佩洛岛的案例研究，本项目提出了三个具体问题：（1）种族化的农业发展和人口动态如何推动萨佩洛岛的排水沟网络在南北战争前、南北战争后和国有时期的变化？(2)现代排水沟网络在多大程度上增加了未来海平面上升引发洪水的可能性？(3)社会人口变化和海平面上升洪水的综合动态将如何影响非裔美国人的经济发展战略？ 调查人员假设，现在的非洲裔美国居民的祖先作为奴隶建造的沟渠现在可能会恶化海平面淹没，并阻止这些社区实现其经济发展目标。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

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.