Assessing the Problems of Fragmented Governance of Land Use in New England

Keywords: Land Fragmentation, Boundaries, GIS, New England
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Friday
Session Start / End Time: 2/25/2022 05:20 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/25/2022 06:40 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 6

Abstract

While some land fragmentation manifests as very physical barriers, such as roads and highways, some borders are less visible. Dallier & Strange (2015) make the argument that, due to their ambiguity and lack of correspondence with the ecological boundaries, parcels- town, county or national boundaries create habitat fragmentation. The aim of this paper is to develop a GIS-based land fragmentation index that can be applied to assess the level of land fragmentation along the municipal boundaries. We applied the methodology to Portland Metropolitan Area in Maine, where local governments defined as towns and cities were established in the 17th century when colonists fixed the boundaries of the local government as the limits of convenient transportation by foot. New England, where Maine is located, has 1,535 municipal governments. New England is the only region where metropolitan statistical areas are be defined by agglomerations of municipal rather than county governments. The developed methodology can be applied to assess land use, land cover, land development, and population density conflicts along the borders.