The Evolution of Community Development in the United States

Previous work on the growth and location of communities has analyzed only one aspect of community growth at a time, either the location, growth, or birth of settlements. We use these three descriptive aspects of settlements to create a story that addresses when communities were created, where communities are located, and how communities grow in the United States. We study the spatial and temporal development of settlements in the United States by utilizing regression techniques to model the relationship between environmental features and settlement age, geographical location, and size. The poster illustrates the evolution of rural land to communities and how the structure of the American urban system has developed over the last two centuries.