Skip to content
University of Maryland LibrariesDigital Repository at the University of Maryland
    • Login
    View Item 
    •   DRUM
    • Theses and Dissertations from UMD
    • UMD Theses and Dissertations
    • View Item
    •   DRUM
    • Theses and Dissertations from UMD
    • UMD Theses and Dissertations
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    The Contribution of Natural Capital to Quality of Life: A Multiscale Analysis at the County, Region, and Global Scales

    Thumbnail
    View/Open
    umi-umd-1958.pdf (2.508Mb)
    No. of downloads: 2667

    Date
    2004-11-16
    Author
    Vemuri, Amanda Walker
    Advisor
    Costanza, Robert
    Daly, Herman
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Abstract
    This dissertation uses a novel approach to investigate the contribution of the natural environment to quality of life (QOL). The natural environment is important to humans because we need raw materials from nature, we rely on the ecosystem services and functions the environment provides, and we relish the health-related benefits and aesthetic qualities that ecosystems offer. Using different scales and methods of analysis, the natural environment was found to play an important role in contributing to QOL. Telephone survey data from the Baltimore metropolitan region on life and neighborhood satisfaction were found to have significant, positive relationships with objective environmental variables (canopy cover, water quality) and perceived environment variables (environment satisfaction, number of trees visible from home). Life satisfaction data from national surveys of 50 countries were analyzed at the aggregate country level and found to have significant relationships with natural, human, built, and social capital. Regression models found that variables representing natural, human, and built capital could explain 72% of the variance in country-level life satisfaction. Finally, a dynamic model of land development in Montgomery County, Maryland, showed that environmentally conscious growth development policies, "Smart Growth" policies, were found to have a positive impact on QOL. Overall, this dissertation presents new evidence to suggest that the natural environment does have a contribution to make to satisfaction levels and to quality of life as a whole. Specifically, the natural environment has a direct relationship with neighborhood satisfaction and mainly an indirect relationship with life satisfaction. The data presented in this dissertation are novel because there is little if any other literature that combines the use of satisfaction data with objectively measured environmental data. This provides a missing link in determining the level of impact that the natural environment has on subjective measures of well-being.
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/1903/2004
    Collections
    • Biology Theses and Dissertations
    • MEES Theses and Dissertations
    • UMD Theses and Dissertations

    DRUM is brought to you by the University of Maryland Libraries
    University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742-7011 (301)314-1328.
    Please send us your comments.
    Web Accessibility
     

     

    Browse

    All of DRUMCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjects

    My Account

    LoginRegister
    Pages
    About DRUMAbout Download Statistics

    DRUM is brought to you by the University of Maryland Libraries
    University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742-7011 (301)314-1328.
    Please send us your comments.
    Web Accessibility