78 posts · 51,687 views
Per Square Mile is a blog about density. It’s about what happens when people live like packed sardines. It’s also about what happens when people live so far apart they can go days without seeing another soul. It’s about living amongst trees and prairies, and living in places miles away from them. It’s about the trees and the prairies, too. And lakes and streams and animals and insects. In short, this is a blog about density of all types.
Tim De Chant
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- August 26, 2011
- 03:37 PM
- 845 views
Front yards, minus the grass
by Tim De Chant in Per Square Mile
If you were on a quest to rid the world of excess turf grass, the front lawn would be a good place to start. No one does anything with their grassy front lawn except mow it. Back yards are far more amenable to relaxation and play—they’re sheltered from the noise of the street, protected by [...]... Read more »
Henderson, S. (1998) Residential lawn alternatives: a study of their distribution, form and structure. Landscape and Urban Planning, 42(2-4), 135-145. DOI: 10.1016/S0169-2046(98)00084-X
Nassauer, Joan Iverson. (1993) Ecological function and the perception of suburban residential landscapes. Managing Urban and High Use Recreation Settings, General Technical Report, USDA Forest Service North Central Forest Exp. Sta., St. Paul, MN., 55-60. info:/
- August 22, 2011
- 02:59 PM
- 1,015 views
In race against fire, only the fleetest trees survive
by Tim De Chant in Per Square Mile
Density matters. That’s the premise of this blog, after all. The number of people per square mile influences the character of a place—a topic I’ve covered repeatedly—but human population density isn’t everything. Take savannas. They are ecosystems defined by density. Savannas are grasslands dotted with trees—not too many and not too few. They can have [...]... Read more »
Wakeling, J., Staver, A., & Bond, W. (2011) Simply the best: the transition of savanna saplings to trees. Oikos. DOI: 10.1111/j.1600-0706.2011.19957.x
- August 17, 2011
- 03:46 PM
- 681 views
Hunter-gatherer populations show humans are hardwired for density
by Tim De Chant in Per Square Mile
This post originally appeared on Scientific American’s Guest Blog. High density living seems like a particularly modern phenomenon. After all, the first subway didn’t run until 1863 and the first skyscraper wasn’t built until 1885. While cities have existed for thousands of years—some with population densities that rival today’s major metropolises—most of humanity has lived [...]... Read more »
Hamilton, M., Milne, B., Walker, R., & Brown, J. (2007) Nonlinear scaling of space use in human hunter-gatherers. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 104(11), 4765-4769. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0611197104
- August 11, 2011
- 12:39 PM
- 720 views
When it’s too crowded to have kids
by Tim De Chant in Per Square Mile
Density can have profound effects on fertility. Population biologists call this phenomenon density dependence, and they’ve witnessed it in everything from single-celled organisms to elephants. It can influence fertility positively—individuals are more likely to meet mates in dense populations—or negatively—increased stress or lower food availability may drive fertility rates down. But despite evidence of the [...]... Read more »
Lutz, W., Testa, M., & Penn, D. (2007) Population Density is a Key Factor in Declining Human Fertility. Population and Environment, 28(2), 69-81. DOI: 10.1007/s11111-007-0037-6
- August 5, 2011
- 01:36 PM
- 754 views
The curious relationship between place names and population density
by Tim De Chant in Per Square Mile
Giving a name to a place is an important act. It says a place has meaning, that it should be remembered. For thousands of years, the way we kept track of place names—or toponyms—was by using our memory. Today, we’re not nearly so limited, and the number of toponyms seems to have exploded. Yet oddly [...]... Read more »
Hunn, E. (1994) Place-Names, Population Density, and the Magic Number 500. Current Anthropology, 35(1), 81. DOI: 10.1086/204245
- July 29, 2011
- 12:07 PM
- 1,101 views
Swedes move to the city, but don’t leave the forest behind
by Tim De Chant in Per Square Mile
If there’s one thing that comes to mind when you think of Sweden besides Ikea and meatballs, it’s probably forests. They cover nearly 70 percent of the country. As a result, Swedes have a very close relationship with their forests, though the nature of it has changed in the last few decades. Swedish forests have [...]... Read more »
Axelsson, A. (2001) Retrospective gap analysis in a Swedish boreal forest landscape using historical data. Forest Ecology and Management, 147(2-3), 109-122. DOI: 10.1016/S0378-1127(00)00470-9
Linder, P., & Östlund, L. (1998) Structural changes in three mid-boreal Swedish forest landscapes, 1885–1996. Biological Conservation, 85(1-2), 9-19. DOI: 10.1016/S0006-3207(97)00168-7
Lindhagen, A. (2000) Forest recreation in 1977 and 1997 in Sweden: changes in public preferences and behaviour. Forestry, 73(2), 143-153. DOI: 10.1093/forestry/73.2.143
Kardell, Lars. (1980) Forest mushrooms and berries—an endangered resource?. Ambio, 9(5), 241-247. info:/
- July 27, 2011
- 01:45 PM
- 830 views
Thinking about how we think about landscapes
by Tim De Chant in Per Square Mile
Take a look at the painting above. It’s one of Thomas Cole’s most famous works, commonly known as The Oxbow.¹ It’s got a little something for everyone. A twisted old tree. A menacing thunderstorm. Soaring cumulonimbus clouds. A spot of sunlight. A meandering river. Well manicured farm fields. I could go on and on. Part [...]... Read more »
Kaplan, R., Kaplan, S., & Brown, T. (1989) Environmental Preference: A Comparison of Four Domains of Predictors. Environment and Behavior, 21(5), 509-530. DOI: 10.1177/0013916589215001
- July 21, 2011
- 01:01 PM
- 790 views
Coaxing more food from less land
by Tim De Chant in Per Square Mile
It’s easy to forget amidst the concern over sprawl that agriculture is still the dominant human impact on the land. Perhaps that’s because it’s easy to rationalize the consequences of agriculture’s land use—it feeds us, after all. But that shouldn’t dissuade us from finding ways to improve farm efficiency. Global population growth shows no signs of [...]... Read more »
Clay, J. (2011) Freeze the footprint of food. Nature, 475(7356), 287-289. DOI: 10.1038/475287a
Foley, J. et al. (2005) Global Consequences of Land Use. Science, 309(5734), 570-574. DOI: 10.1126/science.1111772
- July 15, 2011
- 01:52 PM
- 886 views
An ecology of gardens and yards
by Tim De Chant in Per Square Mile
Tucked amidst acres of asphalt jungle are cities’ unsung environmental heroes. Yards, lawns, gardens—call them whatever you please—these bits of unpaved earth play a real role in supporting thriving urban ecosystems. And they could play the part even more eloquently if we thought of them as parts of a larger whole. Anyone who has spent [...]... Read more »
Falk, J. (1976) Energetics of a Suburban Lawn Ecosystem. Ecology, 57(1), 141. DOI: 10.2307/1936405
Goddard, M., Dougill, A., & Benton, T. (2010) Scaling up from gardens: biodiversity conservation in urban environments. Trends in Ecology , 25(2), 90-98. DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2009.07.016
- July 12, 2011
- 12:42 PM
- 845 views
Drive a lot? Housing density may not be to blame
by Tim De Chant in Per Square Mile
Pushing high density living may seem like a good way to get people out of their cars—saving them money, curbing emissions, and reducing oil dependence—but densification may not be a silver bullet, according to one recent study. The authors dug into the National Household Transportation Survey to examine per household vehicle ownership rates, vehicle miles [...]... Read more »
Brownstone, D., & Golob, T. (2009) The impact of residential density on vehicle usage and energy consumption☆. Journal of Urban Economics, 65(1), 91-98. DOI: 10.1016/j.jue.2008.09.002
- July 1, 2011
- 02:22 PM
- 905 views
Wilderness housing boom challenges conservation
by Tim De Chant in Per Square Mile
The housing boom may be over in the United States, but things look very different when you take a step back. Since the 1940s, housing has grown at about 20 percent each decade. And while the current recession may have slowed things down, we’ll have to start building more houses eventually if we’re to house [...]... Read more »
Radeloff, V., Stewart, S., Hawbaker, T., Gimmi, U., Pidgeon, A., Flather, C., Hammer, R., & Helmers, D. (2009) Housing growth in and near United States protected areas limits their conservation value. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 107(2), 940-945. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0911131107
- June 28, 2011
- 11:00 AM
- 793 views
This is your brain in the city
by Tim De Chant in Per Square Mile
For a kid who spent much of his childhood outdoors—alternately splitting time between the wooded park down the street, my friends’ backyards, and a patch of countryside my parent’s tended—I have been spending a lot of time in rather large cities as an adult. Ever since I left college, I’ve lived in cities that count [...]... Read more »
Lederbogen, F., Kirsch, P., Haddad, L., Streit, F., Tost, H., Schuch, P., Wüst, S., Pruessner, J., Rietschel, M., Deuschle, M.... (2011) City living and urban upbringing affect neural social stress processing in humans. Nature, 474(7352), 498-501. DOI: 10.1038/nature10190
- May 25, 2011
- 12:28 PM
- 853 views
Raptors in the city
by Tim De Chant in Per Square Mile
Pip, the recently hatched red-tailed hawk featured in the New York Times “hawk cam,” was only the latest in a string of successful raptor hatchings in big cities. On the surface, raptors appear to have adapted to city living marvelously. Tall buildings present ideal perches and nesting sites, and lackadaisical pigeons provide easy meals. But [...]... Read more »
Boal, C., & Mannan, R. (1999) Comparative Breeding Ecology of Cooper's Hawks in Urban and Exurban Areas of Southeastern Arizona. The Journal of Wildlife Management, 63(1), 77. DOI: 10.2307/3802488
Chace, J., & Walsh, J. (2006) Urban effects on native avifauna: a review. Landscape and Urban Planning, 74(1), 46-69. DOI: 10.1016/j.landurbplan.2004.08.007
Dunn, Erica H. (1993) Bird Mortality from Striking Residential Windows in Winter. Journal of Field Ornithology, 64(3), 302-309. info:/
- May 17, 2011
- 01:47 PM
- 872 views
Why the poor live in cities
by Tim De Chant in Per Square Mile
If you ask any big city mayor what is one of the most pressing problems facing his or her city, I’m guessing poverty will be high on the list. Cities across the United States are filled with pockets of hardship, and while rural poverty is widespread, too, impoverishment within metropolitan areas tends to be strikingly [...]... Read more »
Glaeser, E., Kahn, M., & Rappaport, J. (2008) Why do the poor live in cities The role of public transportation. Journal of Urban Economics, 63(1), 1-24. DOI: 10.1016/j.jue.2006.12.004
- May 10, 2011
- 12:03 PM
- 969 views
Green planet, clean water
by Tim De Chant in Per Square Mile
In a world of finite resources, fresh water stands next in line to cause shortage, misery, and conflict. Only about 2.5 percent of the world’s water is fresh, and most of that is locked up in ice sheets and glaciers—much of which is melting into the salty ocean thanks to climate change. That tiny sliver [...]... Read more »
Wickham, J., Wade, T., & Riitters, K. (2011) An environmental assessment of United States drinking water watersheds. Landscape Ecology. DOI: 10.1007/s10980-011-9591-5
- May 3, 2011
- 11:45 AM
- 994 views
Animals seek calm seas in oceans of human influence
by Tim De Chant in Per Square Mile
Habitat loss can be like death by a thousand cuts for ecosystems. Each conversion to farmland, housing, or pasture, when taken on its own, may seem a small, inconsequential nick on the surface of a vast planet. But together, and over decades and centuries, these cuts add up, leaving only tiny remnants of the original [...]... Read more »
Brady, M., McAlpine, C., Miller, C., Possingham, H., & Baxter, G. (2009) Habitat attributes of landscape mosaics along a gradient of matrix development intensity: matrix management matters. Landscape Ecology, 24(7), 879-891. DOI: 10.1007/s10980-009-9372-6
Brady, M., McAlpine, C., Possingham, H., Miller, C., & Baxter, G. (2011) Matrix is important for mammals in landscapes with small amounts of native forest habitat. Landscape Ecology. DOI: 10.1007/s10980-011-9602-6
- April 27, 2011
- 10:00 PM
- 703 views
City birds smarter than you might think
by Tim De Chant in Per Square Mile
Pigeons seem like particularly stupid birds. They alternate between frantic head bobbing and blank gazes, which are often interrupted with a lazy flutter of their oil-sheen plumage to avoid bone-crushing foot falls. But these flying rats may just be putting on a good show. Research published Wednesday shows that urban dwelling birds tend to have [...]... Read more »
Alexei A. Maklakov, Simone Immler, Alejandro Gonzalez-Voyer, Johanna Rönn, & Niclas Kolm. (2011) Brains and the city: big-brained passerine birds succeed in urban environments. Biology Letters. info:/10.1098/rsbl.2011.0341
- April 27, 2011
- 11:42 AM
- 1,152 views
Tell me how much you drive, and I’ll tell you where you live
by Tim De Chant in Per Square Mile
Travel can be revealing. In many cases, “where” can answer as much about a person as “who.” Much of who we are is tied up in what sorts of stores we frequent, where we work, and where we go for fun. While that sounds creepy—especially given the recent furor over smartphones storing location information—city-wide travel [...]... Read more »
Giuliano, G., & Narayan, D. (2003) Another look at travel patterns and urban form: The US and Great Britain. Urban Studies, 40(11), 2295-2312. DOI: 10.1080/0042098032000123303
- April 22, 2011
- 12:04 PM
- 1,347 views
Urbanites leave the car behind, but not as often as might think
by Tim De Chant in Per Square Mile
It’s generally accepted as fact that people in big cities drive less. Things are closer together there, making it easier to walk to the store for a gallon of milk. For longer trips, mass transit is also an option. But boiling all that common sense down to a single number is difficult. And though our [...]... Read more »
Cervero, R., & Murakami, J. (2010) Effects of built environments on vehicle miles traveled: evidence from 370 US urbanized areas. Environment and Planning A, 42(2), 400-418. DOI: 10.1068/a4236
- April 19, 2011
- 12:19 PM
- 460 views
The counterintuitive case of suicide and population density
by Tim De Chant in Per Square Mile
Suicide often raises one question more than any other: why? The answers are often varied, but that hasn’t stopped epidemiologists, psychiatrists, and other experts from trying to find some common threads. They may include anything from mental health to financial condition to gun ownership. Population density plays a role, too, though not the one you [...]... Read more »
Dudley M, Waters B, Kelk N, & Howard J. (1992) Youth suicide in New South Wales: urban-rural trends. The Medical journal of Australia, 156(2), 83-8. PMID: 1736082
Hirsch, J. (2006) A Review of the Literature on Rural Suicide. Crisis: The Journal of Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention, 27(4), 189-199. DOI: 10.1027/0227-5910.27.4.189
Strong K., Trickett P., Titulaer I., & Bhatia K. (1998) Health in rural and remote Australia: the first report of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare on rural health. Report. info:other/9780642247827
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