Land Use Activities

• Kellogg Grant
• Land Use Survey
• The Built Environment: Social Capital and Human Health Conference
• Presentations and Publications

Kellogg Grant

Land use efforts in connection with the W.K. Kellogg grant are focused on bringing together MSU’s wide range of land use-related research, outreach, and educational efforts to better serve citizens, local officials, and municipalities. More information about this effort is available in a news release announcing the grant. Specifically the efforts is aimed at:

• Expanding and analyzing land use models predicting changes in the state’s natural resources and population;
• Disseminating land use protocols that can be used to analyze land use/land cover change;
• Surveying municipalities regarding their capacities to perform land use planning tasks;
• Broadening the MSU Citizen Planner program, an educational course for local planning and zoning officials; and,
• Coordinating on-campus research and outreach activities in the land use arena.

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A portion of the W.K. Kellogg grant is being used to fund the Michigan Local Planning & Zoning Survey 2003. There exists no current data on the status of local planning and zoning on a statewide basis. The last time such a survey was commissioned was in 1994. That survey provided valuable information on planning and zoning activities in Michigan. The results, which were made available to government units across the state, have been frequently referenced by a wide range of policy makers at every level of government.

IPPSR is updating the 1994 survey to document the current status of planning and zoning in every local jurisdiction in Michigan. To conduct this important update, we need your help! If your community (city, village, or township) has not yet filled out this survey, you may respond via the on-line version:

View/Download Michigan Local Planning & Zoning Survey 2003 (.pdf)*

Please note: Responses to the .pdf file may be saved ONLY WHEN using the full version of Adobe Acrobat. Otherwise responses will not save. If the full version of Adobe Acrobat is not available to you, please print the completed survey and send it via mail or fax. Thank you.

The completed document can be returned to IPPSR in several ways:

• Fax it to (517) 432-1544;
• Email it to AnnMarie Schneider, AnnMarie.Schneider@ssc.msu.edu ; or,
• Mail it to: IPPSR, ATTN: AnnMarie Schneider, 321 Berkey Hall, East Lansing MI 48824-1111.

You may also email AnnMarie Schneider to request that the survey and accompanying documents be mailed directly to you.

Data from this survey will be available to the public on the IPPSR web-site once the survey has been completed.

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The Built Environment: Social Capital and Human Health Conference

On May 18-19, 2003, MSU's Urban Research Interest Group (URIG) sponsored a conference to observe 1) what we know about the physical and social aspects of the built environment; 2) the land use patterns in urban and metropolitan areas of Michigan; 3) the health status of the local community, and; 4) the residents’ sense of social connectedness. Held at the Brook Lodge Executive Resort and Conference Center in Augusta, Michigan, the two-day session featured Guest Speaker Andrew Dannenberg, M.D., MPH, Division of Emergency and Environmental Health Services Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. After having the opportunity to hear Dr. Dannenberg’s address, participants gained a better sense of the small group breakouts planned around three subject areas: Social Capital and the Built Environment, Social Capital and Human Health and The Built Environment and Human Health.

The conference planning committee geared the event around facilitating the formation of multidisciplinary research teams to study the impact of those observations on the health of people and their surroundings so that we may advance knowledge and inform policy, particularly on urban land use, in a way that impacts the future in a positive way. MSU faculty-led groups of researchers are encouraged to submit proposals to the Urban Research Interest Group for funding of two types of products: 1) short white papers of 10-15 pages focused on an important public policy issue in Michigan, and 2) applied public policy research grants involving original research which can help inform public policy issues in Michigan. Both should build on discussions at Brook Lodge and have relevance to Michigan policymakers and should deal at least in part with urban areas. Available online are the results of a participant evaluation (.pdf)* of the conference.

A series of eight papers resulted from the conference, more information about the series is available online. The papers were utilized to inform candidates during Michigan's 2004 elections as well as current policymakers and practitioners.

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Presentations and Publications

Other presentations and publications related to this effort are provided in the resources section of this website.

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