Interpreting amenities, envisioning the future: common ground and conflict in North Carolina’s rural coastal communities (original) (raw)
Related papers
2011
Growth and change at the rural-urban fringe of any urbanizing area creates heated debate. The way in which people talk about change is oftentimes through stories, using rhetoric and imagery to paint a picture of what is or ought to be. In this case study of Douglas County, Kansas, imagery and rhetoric of changing rural land uses is analyzed from planning documents, newspaper articles, and interviews with planners and commission members during two distinct time periods, one of high population growth (1995 to 1999), and one of slowing population growth (2005 to 2009). The researcher found that despite differing economic situations, much of the rhetoric between the two time periods was similar. The biggest difference, however, was in the different resource conflicts between the two time periods – water and soils, respectively. Despite the economic recession during the latter time period, much long-term planning resulted. What planner and city officials can learn from this research is t...
Landscape and Urban Planning, 2011
Rural landscapes around the world, including those in New England, face intense development pressures from nearby urban areas. Sustaining rural landscapes requires protecting these lands from development and continuing traditional land stewardship by local residents. Government officials and planners need to understand the attitudes and perceptions of rural residents as the first step in planning for sustainability. This paper describes two studies in rural Massachusetts that explored the hypothesis that place attachment may be an important motivation affecting residents' attitudes toward land preservation. The first study used a photo-preference questionnaire to survey local residents about their attachment to the rural landscape, their perceptions of rural character, and their attitudes toward land protection. The second study used qualitative interviews with residents in the same region to add new insights to the survey results. Both studies found strong support by local residents for preserving rural character in their areas. Moreover, these studies found a positive correlation between local residents' support for land protection (both in general and on their own land) and their level of attachment for scenes of rural places in their area. This research presents compelling evidence that local residents' attachment to the rural landscape is a strong motivation for engaging in land stewardship and preservation efforts to sustain rural places and economies.
Role of natural and cultural features in residents' perceptions of rural character
2006
Rural landscapes are rapidly changing as more families migrate in from cities and suburbs, yet there have been few systematic attempts to have residents describe exactly what rural character means to them. As part of a USDA Forest Service research program examining landscape change (Potts et al. 2004), this study focused on the landscape and residents of six townships in south central Michigan. Six groups of four to five residents each were transported throughout the townships to discuss landscape features that represent rural character. Several thematic preferences surfaced. Land use for residential development was a major concern among all of the residents. Depending on the type and location, subdivisions in agricultural areas were viewed either neutrally or negatively. Most residents found cleared lots with new houses built close to the road to be objectionable and preferred housing with vegetative screening. Woodlots, wetlands, and farmland also showed up in all six discussions ...
Whose Sense of Place? A Political Ecology of Amenity Development
Place-Based Conservation, 2012
Using a political ecology framework, this chapter examines the ways in which sense of place and amenity migration contribute to alternative residential development, which relies on uneven use of conservation subdivision features in the American West. Using case studies from Central Oregon, this chapter demonstrates how senses of place and developer decision-making are tied to wider political economic changes. It highlights the roles that amenity migrants and developers, two groups that are sometimes identical, play in landscape transformations that simultaneously draw on a particular sense of place and commodify landscapes in new ways.
Journal of Rural Studies, 2011
In 2006, land use planning emerged as a contested issue in the rural area known as 'Down East', Carteret County, in eastern North Carolina, USA. Down East is experiencing a transition from a commercial fishing to an amenity economy and concerns about related changes led to the formation of 'Down East Tomorrow' (DET), a grassroots group that proposed a one-year development moratorium in order to facilitate a community planning process. In this paper, we use political ecology to examine the fate of the moratorium as reflected in the public written record, primarily minutes of meetings of the Carteret County Board of Commissioners. We illustrate how issues of community, science, and governance were linked to an increasing focus on coastal water quality in the debate, and argue that this focus facilitated a switch by the Board from considering a development moratorium to adopting a conservation ordinance, one that fell short of addressing DET's concerns. This outcome illustrates the power of formal political institutions in 'First World' environmental conflicts and the difficulties of reconciling competing values associated with land use in areas of transition, especially where historical resistance to planning has been the norm.
Local Environment, 2012
This paper develops theoretical insight from the rapid development of the coastal town of Bluffton, South Carolina. Bluffton has experienced rapid growth and development over the past 15 years, associated with the amenity-based migration of tourists, second homeowners, and retirees. The local management strategies that dominate regional development often project visions of coastal growth around the possibility of healthy environments and strong economies. The debates around these strategies have centred on the sustainability of development and environmental change, and have contributed to the production of amenity-based landscapes. However, I argue that these debates enforce normative ideals for “good” and “bad” development, which materially and discursively reinforce forms of inequality on the landscape. In particular, this paper will show how contrasts between new development projects and existing communities normalise certain city-building strategies that obscure, or even legitimise, race and class inequalities. Consideration of development/environment debates and the landscapes they help to produce provide an opportunity to envision an alternative future that emphasises social and ecological justice.
Heritage, amenity, and the changing landscape of the rural American West
The production landscapes that once dominated the rural American West are being transformed into amenity landscapes intended largely for consumption by in-migrants and visitors. However, once people settle in the rural West, a newly realized amenity may be recognized: the region's relic cultural landscape. This paper builds upon a 2007 study that used resident-employed photography to assess the varying environmental perspectives of, and social interactions between, newcomers and long-established ranchers in a rural Colorado valley. Photographs taken by both lifelong ranchers and newer nonagricultural residents highlighted two relic landscapes in the valley: its cemetery and one-room schoolhouse. This study investigates these particular cultural landscapes, their histories, meanings, and what their futures in this region may hold, given the in-migration. Using archives, landscape interpretation, and interviews with key informants, this paper analyzes how newcomers may appropriate these relic landscapes and further develop them as cultural amenities in their new environment. Simultaneously, long-established ranchers may defend these landscapes of their own heritage against such cooptation. The interests of newcomers in these historic relics impacts how they are, and will continue to be, managed, possibly creating new opportunities for social interaction among these groups.