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Kofstad, Andrea

Natural Resources

2011

MS

The intersections between neighborhood livability and stormwater management have not been widely explored. These intersections include the sociability among neighbors and their willingness to work together to improve their neighborhoods' stormwater system. Norms within a neighborhood, particularly in relation to lawn appearance, can also affect a neighborhood resident's reaction to certain proposed stormwater systems. In this study, a survey was sent to 1,478 residents in Maine, Vennont, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. Respondents were asked about their neighborhood, as well as the current and potential stormwater management within their neighborhood. From the survey results, a structural equation model was created which predicts residents' stormwater attitudes, intentions, and behaviors, based on their neighborhood's livability index and their lawn-care norms. The conclusions gathered from this study will be useful to both potential and existing neighborhoods. It will help neighborhood planners construct a stormwater management system based on the type of neighborhood they are planning, and the types of people who will most likely live there. It will also help the many existing neighborhoods that are not currently meeting their city or state's stormwater permitting standards construct the best possible solution based on the nonns and attitudes ofthe neighborhood residents.