The county diagnostic method is a spatially explicit, unit specific, component expanded regional environmental footprint framework for the USA designed by Bryce Lawrence to compare the influence of ecoregions on polyfactorial environmental footprints. This 'diagnostic assessment' quantifies and compares the flows of food, water, energy, carbon, municipal solid waste, wastewater and spatial extent of ecosystem conservation. The county diagnostic fills the gap in regional environmental planning in the USA by bridging urban and state level planning.

A Study in Applied Geoscience Additional Data Available Online

Autorentext

Dr. Bryce Lawrence is a research scientist and educator at the Department of Landscape Ecology and Landscape Planning at the TU Dortmund University's Faculty of Spatial Planning in Germany.

Inhalt

Existing Footprinting Methods and the Need for Regional Ecological Planning in the USA.- The Urban Metabolism and Flows of the Anthroposphere.- The Dissipative Ecological Unit (DEU) as Organizing Principle for Metabolic Analysis of Counties.- Calculations and Data Sources for the County Diagnostic Method.- A Case Study Application of the County Diagnostic to the Eastern Temperate Forest Ecoregion.- Comparative Vertical Waveform Diagrams for Cases and Interpretation of Case Study Results.