People

Directors

Philip Berke Professor, City and Regional Planning, Deputy Director, Institute for the Environment, Director, Center for Sustainable Community Design, UNC-Chapel Hill Phone: (919) 962-4765 Email: pberke@email.unc.edu Research Focus: The central focus of my research is to develop a deeper understanding of the connections between human settlements and the natural environment. My research explores the causes of land use decisions, how these decisions impact natural systems, and the consequences of these impacts on human settlements. My ultimate goal is to seek solutions to complex urban development problems, and thus help communities live within the limits of natural systems.

David Salvesen Lecturer, City and Regional Planning, Deputy Director, Center for Sustainable Community Design, UNC-Chapel Hill Phone: (919) 962-7045 Email: salvesen@unc.edu Research Focus: My research focuses on understanding the impact of land use policies, practices and trends on the natural environment and the quality and character of communities. I am interested in exploring how communities can grow in ways that are sustainable and grounded in processes that are inclusive, equitable, and collaborative. Much of my work involves facilitating greater coordination and communication across different levels of government to promote better land use.

Faculty

Larry Band Voit Gilmore Distinguished Professor, Geography, Director, Institute for the Environment, UNC-Chapel Hill Phone: (919) 962-3921 Email: lband@email.unc.edu Research Focus: My primary interests focus on the structure, function and dynamics of urban watershed systems. In this work, I combine field measurement and observation of hydrological and ecological variables with the development and application of distributed simulation models, GIS and remote sensing techniques.

Todd BenDor Assistant Professor, City and Regional Planning, UNC-Chapel Hill Phone: (919) 962-4760 Email: bendor@unc.edu Research Focus: Todd BenDor's research uses computer modeling to better understand the impacts that human activities and development can have on sensitive environmental systems. His recent work has focused on understanding the social and economic consequences of government policies that require environmental restoration during the urban development process. He has also been involved in using regional, land-use change modeling to assess a broad range of environmental impacts and dynamic environmental problems.

Martin Doyle Director, Center for Watershed Science and Management, Associate Professor, Geography, UNC-Chapel Hill Phone: (919) 962-3876 Email: mwdoyle@email.unc.edu Research Focus: My interest focuses on how urban land use change affects physical structure and processes of rivers which, in turn, affects stream ecology. I am interested in how rivers physically adjust to human disturbance, the rates at which they adjust to the disturbance, and how these adjustments affect local ecosystems. I approach these problems through a combination of field work and numerical modeling.

Aaron Moody Associate Professor, Geography, UNC-Chapel Hill Phone: (919) 962-5303 Email: aaronm@email.unc.edu Research Focus: My research areas are landscape ecology and remote sensing. I'm interested in several issues related to the rural/urban and urban/wildland interface. These include interrelationships between development and wildlife (both native and non-native plants and animals), vegetation structure and disturbance, including natural hazards. I am also interested in the preservation of rural and wild landscapes (e.g., woodlots, farms and farm structures, riparian areas, ponds) within the developed landscape, and understanding their value for conservation and for enrichment of communities and lifestyles. An additional area of interest is on material and energy flow at the rural/urban and urban/wildland interface.

Mai Nguyen Assistant Professor, City and Regional Planning, UNC-Chapel Hill Phone: (919) 962-4762 Email: nguyen@unc.edu Research Focus: Dr. Nguyen's research interests center on issues relating to housing and community development. Within this specialization area, her research examines planning processes and outcomes that affect underserved and disadvantaged populations.

Daniel Rodriguez Director, Carolina Transporation Program, Associate Professor, City and Regional Planning, UNC-Chapel Hill Phone: (919) 962-4763 Email: danrod@email.unc.edu Research Focus: I am interested in understanding the relationship between the built environment and travel behavior, with a particular focus on decisions of where to live and whether to drive, take the bus, walk, how far and how frequently. I study these at the micro- (tract or site, meso- (neighborhood) and macro (metropolitan)-levels of analysis.

Yan Song Assistant Professor, City and Regional Planning, UNC-Chapel Hill Phone: (919) 962-4761 Email: ys@email.unc.edu Research Focus: My research addresses are in land use planning, growth management, economics of land use regulations, spatial analysis of urban form, physical planning and urban design, and modeling of links between the built environment and its multifaceted impacts. I also focus on how to accommodate research in above fields by using planning supporting systems such as GIS and other computer-aided planning tools.