Managing Urban Growth in the Wake of Climate Change: Revisiting Greenbelt Policy in the US

Abstract

Greenbelts are large areas of open land close to cities and suburbs and are found in several countries, including the US. The basic purposes of a greenbelt are to limit the extension of urban growth into the countryside as well as to protect and preserve farmland, forestland, and natural areas. Recently, the value of greenbelts has been recognized for providing carbon sinks to store and sequester carbon. We analyze the performance of six greenbelt counties in limiting sprawl and retaining open land. We then compare six counties with greenbelts to 19 adjacent counties without greenbelts to show that greenbelt counties experienced less land conversion from 2006 to 2016. Next, we calculate the conversion of the land by four land cover types in the six greenbelt counties. Finally, we analyze the conversion of land cover types by their carbon storage and sequestration capacity to indicate which land cover types different counties should prioritize for protection and preservation in their greenbelts.