Project of the Month

Upstate Growth Projections

Growth in the Upstate over the last couple of decades has been truly spectacular. The benefits are obvious: new businesses and homes seem to be sprouting up everywhere, unemployment is low, and opportunities abound. However, the costs of growth — or, to be more specific, the costs of the particular way in which the Upstate has grown — are much harder to see. This study presents the results of a GIS-based regional land use change projection that demonstrates in vivid terms how inefficient growth patterns in the Upstate have become in the last few decades. By comparing the rate of increase in developed land in the Upstate to the rate of population growth and then projecting that ratio into the future, the model generates a series of maps that show what the Upstate will look like in 2030 if we continue with business as usual.

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project abstract

full study