Media Hones in on Southeast Megalopolis Urban Sprawl Research
Striking visualizations created by a team of SE Climate Science Center and NC State University Researchers and published in PLOS One has garnered a bevy of media attention. The paper, The Southern Megalopolis: Using the Past to Predict the Future of Urban Sprawl in the Southeast U.S., predicts that the extent of urbanization in this region could increase by 101% to 192% in the next 50 years, and describes a megalopolis that stretches from Atlanta, GA up to Raleigh, NC. This kind of urbanization can significantly affect forests, grasslands, and other non-urban areas and the capacity of species to respond to climate change. Urban growth models such as the one in this paper can help inform natural resource managers’ and urban planners’ decisions.
Here is a selection of the coverage so far:
USGS issued press release, joint with NC State University:
http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=3943#.U9ZtYoBdVgY
The Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/07/30/what-the-rapidly-urbanizing-southeast-could-look-like-come-2060/?wpisrc=nl_wnkpm
The Washington Post (2nd article):
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/southeast-could-become-an-overdeveloped-megalopolis-in-the-next-half-century/2014/08/09/27a5ce98-1819-11e4-9349-84d4a85be981_story.html
The Atlantic’s City Lab:
http://www.citylab.com/housing/2014/07/by-2060-the-american-south-could-be-three-times-as-urbanized/375017/
NPR-WUNC:
http://wunc.org/post/megalopolis-stretch-raleigh-atlanta
NPR-WABE-Atlanta. Live radio interview with first author, Adam Terando:
http://wabe.org/post/could-explosive-growth-lead-southern-megalopolis
Atlanta Magazine:
http://www.atlantamagazine.com/agenda/2014/07/25/behold-the-sprawl-of-2060-when-atlanta-and-charlotte-finally-converge#sthash.oj3i92rp.dpuf
Atlanta Business Chronicle:
http://www.11alive.com/story/news/local/2014/07/31/southern-megalopolis/13396977/
Conservation Magazine:
http://conservationmagazine.org/2014/08/just-how-far-will-urban-sprawl-spread/
The Weather Channel:
http://www.weather.com/video/bad-news-for-millions-across-south-51830
Triangle Business Journal:
http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/blog/techflash/2014/07/how-a-2060-megalopolis-could-change-raleigh.html
Dr. Robert Dunn’s YourWildlife Blog, The Rise of Charlanta:
http://www.yourwildlife.org/2014/07/the-rise-of-charlanta/
The Post and Courier:
http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20140806/PC1610/140809592/1356/a-new-warning-for-the-south-grow-smarter
Raleigh Public Record:
http://raleighpublicrecord.org/news/2014/08/04/se-raleigh-food-desert-finally-getting-a-grocery-store/
Enviromental and Energy Study Institute:
http://www.eesi.org/articles/view/usgs-finds-growing-urban-sprawl-in-southeast-rivals-threat-of-climate-chang
Goupstate.com
http://www.goupstate.com/article/20140816/ARTICLES/140819748/1112?p=1&tc=pg
Sustainability: Science, Practice and Policy Journal Blog
http://ssppjournal.blogspot.com/2014/08/a-sprawling-enemy-of-biodiversity.html
Sustainability: Science, Practice and Policy Journal Blog (second post)
http://ssppjournal.blogspot.com/2014/09/sprawl-more-or-less.html
Greenville Journal:
http://greenvillejournal.com/