The variety of settings in which High Volume Hydraulic Fracturing natural gas and oil development may occur in the US complicates the task of systematically assessing regional risks and impacts.
Susan will discuss her research which undertakes a more systematic evaluation by:
- Assessing what we know historically about the natural resource development cycle and what it means for local and regional economies.
- Reviewing some of what is known about the types of community social and economic impacts associated with HVHF shale oil and gas development in the US.
- Looking at what our existing knowledge implies for planning and the design of policies that will address the social and economic risks associated with unconventional fossil fuel development, and sustain drilling communities beyond the boom-bust cycle over the long term.
RSVP to this event by Friday 7 March at dei.admin@durham.ac.uk
Biographical Sketch
Susan Christopherson is a Professor in the Department of City and Regional Planning at Cornell University. She is a geographer whose career has been based on commitment to the integration of scholarly work and public engagement.
Her research interests are diverse, but focus on political-economic policy, especially its spatial dimensions. Much of her research is comparative and she has published a series of articles and a book on how different market governance regimes influence regional development and labor market policies. Her most recent publications examine how the “financialization” of the US economy has affected investment in manufacturing industries. She is also a recognized expert in the field of media studies with a career-long record of research and writing on project-based work in the entertainment media industries.
Susan Christopherson’s public engagement has spanned arenas from the local to the global. She has acted as a consultant to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development as well as national, state, and local government. She is currently chair of the International Economic Development Council advisory committee on higher education and economic development. Over the course of her career she has produced dozens of policy reports and policy briefs as well as articles aimed at a public audience. The goal of these publications -- on economic development issues, labor force development, and the knowledge economy – is to make academic research accessible and useful to policy makers.
Since 2010, she has received a series of grants from the Park Foundation and the Heinz Endowments to direct research on the economic and social consequences of natural gas drilling. Initial results from this research appear in The International Journal of Town and City Management; Planning Magazine; book chaptersand in a series of policy briefs on www.greenchoices.cornell.edu. Her most recent research project analyzes 298 communities in the Marcellus region states that have responded to the environmental, social and economic impacts of shale gas extraction with regulatory or legislative action. Her next research project will focus on assessing where and what types of jobs are created in conjunction with shale gas development.
Contact details:
Susan Christopherson
Department of City and Regional Planning
Cornell University
Ithaca New York 14853. U.S.
Contact dei.admin@dur.ac.uk for more information about this event.