Environment and Sustainability

Photo of Megan Maccaroni
Photo of Megan Maccaroni

Megan Maccaroni

Recent graduate Megan Maccaroni presented a paper, entitled “Exurban Forest Metabolism? A Political Ecology of Material Landscape Transformations in Southeastern PA” at the Annual Meetings of the Association of American Geographers in Tampa Bay, Fla., in April 2014.

The paper draws on Megan’s honor’s thesis research in the Stone Hill conservation area outside of Schwenksville, Pa., and Dr. Hurley’s ongoing research on the political ecology of urbanizing and formerly rural areas of western Montgomery and Bucks counties.

The paper was part of a wider panel exploring issues regarding new theoretical and methodological insights on research in this type of rural-urban place. Their findings suggest important new insights into the ways in which, and motivations behind how, people transform forested areas in southeastern Pennsylvania.