Stephen Wheeler

University of California, Davis | UCD · Department of Human Ecology

How might a large jurisdiction approach carbon neutrality by 2050, and what initiatives might increase the chances of success? This article explores these questions using California as a case study. Current trends as well as multiple modeling studies show that existing policy directions for the state will not be sufficient. Additional initiatives a...

Agriculture in California contributes 8% of the state's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. To inform the state's policy and program strategy to meet climate targets, we review recent research on practices that can reduce emissions, sequester carbon and provide other co-benefits to producers and the environment across agriculture and rangeland systems....

The theme of the next issue of Urban Planning will be Paradigm Shifts. To make the link between “sustainability” and “paradigm change,” the following commentary analyzes the former concept as a main example of the latter. Although it is often applied to rather modest planning initiatives, “sustainability” can be seen as requiring shifts in cognitiv...

Built landscapes—patterns of streets, blocks, parcels of land, buildings, and related infrastructure at the scale of an urban neighborhood or greater—are often difficult for decision makers and the public to understand, especially within the complex “collage city” of the postmodern era. Yet understanding the variety of these forms can help stakehol...

This article was downloaded by: [University of California Davis] On: 26 February 2015, At: 15:09 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Journal of the American Planning Association Publication details, including instruct...

Developing more sustainable communities is among our foremost challenges, and urban designers have a leading role to play. I view this role very broadly, not just in terms of designing public spaces, neighbourhoods, streets and sites, but as writers such as Shuman (1998), McDonough and Braungart (2002), Hester (2006), Beatley (2011) and Lovins et a...

Background: Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) addresses the challenge of meeting the growing demand for food, fibre and fuel, despite the changing climate and fewer opportunities for agricultural expansion on additional lands. CSA focuses on contributing to economic development, poverty reduction and food security; maintaining and enhancing the produ...

Different patterns of urban development may have widely varying long-term effects on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. To investigate such effects, we used UPlan geographic information system–based software to model three 2050 urban-growth scenarios for Yolo County, a predominantly agricultural area near Sacramento, California. Two scenarios correspo...

Existing patterns of urbanization are unsustainable in the long run. Current development practices consume enormous amounts of land and resources, damage local ecosystems, produce pollutants, create huge inequalities between groups of people and undermine local community and quality of life. Unfortunately planning has itself led to many unsustainab...

Low-density exurban landscapes threaten ecosystems and pose challenges for urban and regional planning, especially in nations with relatively weak rural land use regulation like the United States. Growth management efforts in such areas have generally been difficult due to strong pro-development forces and cultures of landowner rights. This article...

Ensuring the resilience of agricultural systems in the face of climate, land use and socioeconomic changes requires a sound understanding of the possible risks and uncertainties. We developed a geospatial index of agricultural vulnerability derived from 22 biophysical and socioeconomic variables, collected to assess specific dimensions of vulnerabi...

The assumption is that these are simply tools that planners employ, or that, by extension, society in general employs to meet particular needs. A related assumption is that these and other technologies are value-neutral, rather than actively shaping the goals and agenda of the profession. In this brief essay I would like to take a somewhat differen...

To meet the mitigation targets set by California's Global Warming Solutions Act there is a need for locally adapted greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory methods and policy principles that help rural communities prioritize opportunities for agricultural GHG mitigation. Here, inventory methods prescribed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and...

Agriculture in the Central Valley of California, one of the USA’s main sources of fruits, nuts, and vegetables, is highly vulnerable to climate change impacts in the next 50 years. This interdisciplinary case study in Yolo County shows the urgency f or building adaptation strategies to climate change. Although climate change and the effects of gree...

This paper examines Sacramento, CA, as a case study of urban form in the evolving postmodern metropolis. Data were integrated from historical maps, aerial photographs and on-the-ground observation into a GIS database for the region, and historic and current built form were analyzed. Main findings include (1) the rapid spatial expansion and prolifer...

This is the second of two special issues in Progress in Planning exploring emerging research agendas in planning. It brings together scholars from diverse schools working on new areas of research and application in urban design and planning. Emergent research agendas include both novel areas of research and important shifts in the direction of a re...

Wheeler S. Regions, megaregions, and sustainability, Regional Studies. The rapid expansion of urbanized regions is problematic for sustainable development. Urbanization at large scales has inherent sustainability problems, and planning institutions and governance mechanisms have had limited success at the metropolitan scale, let alone at a megaregi...

Problem: Global warming has emerged as one of the new century's top planning challenges. But it is far from clear how state and local governments in the United States can best address climate change through planning.

This article analyzes the evolution of built landscapes in six U.S. metropolitan regions using historic maps, aerial photographs, and GIS software. The analysis identifies seven main historic patterns of urban form and nine types created in the 1980-2005 period. This recent period was characterized by a proliferation and fragmentation of built land...

This paper analyses the evolution of urban form in two North American metropolitan regions (Portland and Toronto) and asks how more sustainable regional form might come about in the future in these and other urban areas. In the past, dominant patterns of urban form have emerged in such regions at different historical periods. These morphological ph...

This article analyzes the emergence of a “new regionalism” and situates this movement within the historical evolution of regional planning. Key characteristics include (1) a focus on specific territories and spatial planning; (2) a response to the particular problems of the postmodern metropolitan region; (3) a holistic perspective that integrates...

This article establishes a framework for thinking about sustainable development in the metropolitan context by investigating the origins of the sustainability concept and its meanings when applied to urban development, surveying historical approaches to planning the urban region, and analyzing ways in which a context can be created for regional sus...