GeoDesign Examples

 

It's already working, mostly in pieces.

Each of these documented projects shows part of Spatial Social Design. The first group designs with place. The next designs with behavior. The last shows what happens when the two meet.

Designing with place

Alternative futures for the Upper San Pedro River

Arizona and Sonora, Mexico. Carl Steinitz and colleagues, published 2003

One of the few undammed rivers in the desert Southwest, the San Pedro depends on groundwater that growth was steadily drawing down. The team modeled how different patterns of development and water use would affect the river, its riparian habitat, and the communities on both sides of the border, then shared the scenarios with local stakeholders.

Showed decision makers, in map form, which choices protected the river and which ones would dry it out.

Biodiversity and landscape planning around Camp Pendleton

Coastal Southern California. Harvard Graduate School of Design team led by Carl Steinitz, published 1996

A study of the fast-growing region between San Diego and Orange County, comparing alternative growth futures and their effects on habitat, species, and water.

An early model for testing land-use choices against biodiversity before they're made.

International Geodesign Collaboration

Worldwide university teams, launched by Carl Steinitz and colleagues

Teams around the world study their own regions using a shared framework and common future scenarios, so results from very different places can be compared side by side.

A working model for how local design work can add up to a global picture.

Designing with behavior

Turn It Off: reducing vehicle idling

Toronto schools and transit pick-up lots. City of Toronto, Natural Resources Canada, and partners

Toronto already had an anti-idling bylaw, but it was hard to enforce. This CBSM pilot tested signs alone against signs combined with window stickers, information cards, and a face-to-face request for a commitment. Sites were chosen partly for their physical layout, and signs were placed at eye level where drivers actually idled.

Signs alone had little effect. The full combination cut the share of drivers idling by roughly a quarter to a third and reduced idling time by more than 70%.

Where place and behavior meet

Finding the right neighborhoods for irrigation outreach

Southern California. Action Research with county mapping specialists

Overwatered lawns can carry fertilizers, pesticides, and bacteria into storm drains. Rather than send every homeowner the same conservation message, the team mapped lawns, terrain, and stormwater outfalls to find neighborhoods with extensive front-yard turf and slopes that send runoff toward the drains. Researchers then used interviews and observations in those neighborhoods to learn how residents water and what keeps them from changing.

The map showed where to focus. The behavioral research showed why people water the way they do. Mapping the interventions and results makes it possible to compare neighborhoods and track change over time.

Litter follows the look of a place

Field experiments by Robert Cialdini, Raymond Reno, and Carl Kallgren, published 1990

People were given a chance to litter in settings that were either clean or already littered. They littered far more in the littered setting. The setting itself told them what was normal.

A foundational finding for Spatial Social Design: the condition of a place communicates a social norm.

Green footprints to the bin

Copenhagen, 2011, Roskilde University students supervised by Pelle Guldborg Hansen. Tested across the UK by Keep Britain Tidy in 2014

Bright green footprints were placed on the ground leading to litter bins, making the bins more noticeable to people passing by. A small change to the place, designed around how people behave.

Street litter in the Copenhagen trial dropped 46%. In the UK replication, results varied by site: an average reduction of about 16%, with litter falling at six of eight partner locations. Copenhagen went on to add footprints at hundreds of bins.

Copenhagen's nightlife litter program

City of Copenhagen, iterative work over more than a decade

The city used GPS data to map where nightlife crowds gathered, then recorded hundreds of individual littering observations, including each person's distance to the nearest bin. With bar owners, door staff, cleaning crews, and behavioral designers, it prototyped and tested new bins, deposit systems, and bottle trays in those mapped hot spots.

Individual tests cut litter by roughly half or more, and the city reports a third fewer night cleaning tasks. This is about as close to full Spatial Social Design as any public project yet: map the place, study the behavior, redesign both, measure, and scale.

The method works. What's missing is the infrastructure to repeat it everywhere.

Shared data, shared maps, and coalitions that carry what works from one community to the next.

Interested in taking part? Start with how we work, or contact Environmental Alliance.

  1. Steinitz, C., et al. (2003). Alternative Futures for Changing Landscapes: The Upper San Pedro River Basin in Arizona and Sonora. Island Press.
  2. Steinitz, C., et al. (1996). Biodiversity and Landscape Planning: Alternative Futures for the Region of Camp Pendleton, California. Harvard Graduate School of Design.
  3. Steinitz, C. (2012). A Framework for Geodesign. Esri Press.
  4. McKenzie-Mohr, D. Fostering Sustainable Behavior: An Introduction to Community-Based Social Marketing. Case study: "Turn it Off: Anti-Idling Project Using Commitment, Prompts and Norms," cbsm.com.
  5. Cialdini, R., Reno, R., & Kallgren, C. (1990). A focus theory of normative conduct. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58(6).
  6. Southern California irrigation project details courtesy of Action Research.
  7. Keep Britain Tidy (2015). Green Footprints: An experiment to nudge people towards responsible litter disposal.
  8. City of Copenhagen, "Solutions for a Cleaner Night Life," Interreg Europe good practice; and URBAN WASTE presentation (2017).
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