Environmental Fellows
Progress Energy Graduate Fellows
| Sarah Kirk | |
| Sarah is a second year Master's student in the Department of City and Regional planning. She is currently working on a research project with Dr. Nikhil Kaza and Dr. Bill Lester to develop an index of industrial land conversion sensitivity. Many economic development plans have focused on targeting retail, residential and high tech sectors to the detriment of goods producing sectors. She is looking at land use changes and land value changes over time in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina and Cook County, Illinois to identify the factors that lead to industrial land being converted for other uses. One aim of the project is to identify some of the causes and remedies for industrial land conversion. Industrial uses within a city are related to number of energy issues, including the capacity of transmission lines, fuel supply and the effect of the shifts in transportation systems. By focusing the research on pattern and effects of industrial land conversion, Sarah is studying the efficiency and the energy implications of the land use distribution in cities. |