Changing Demographics Bring Changing Density

"Asistant professor of environmental engineering Julian Marshall recently discovered some interesting trends regarding urban growth.

While examining census data, Marshall noticed that as people have moved to urban areas, they have taken up twice the amount of land as previously settled residents.

"I kind of stumbled on the findings," Marshall said.

Marshall's research was published in the September issue of Urban Studies, an international journal on urban planning and policy.

In his study, Marshall examined cities that have grown at rates greater than 10 percent over the course of the past 50 years.

While the population growth total has fluctuated, the relationship between new and settled residents remained constant, Marshall said.

He found that although people are taking up different amounts of space, there has been a consistent trend in "linear population density." This means that if a person walks the distance of the state with arms stretched a mile wide, the person will consistently bump into the same amount of people, Marshall said."