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Derek Van Berkel
Associate Professor
Geospatial Data Sciences
Conservation + Restoration
Office
2538 Dana
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About
Derek Van Berkel is Associate Professor of Data Science, Geovisualization and Design. His research examines the human dimensions of land-cover/land-use change and ecosystem services at diverse scales. It aims to use spatial analysis and geovisualizations of social and environmental data and spatial thinking to develop solutions for today’s most pressing environmental challenges. Within this growing body of interdisciplinary work, he leverages social theory, big data, machine learning, spatial-temporal computer modeling (e.g. agent-based and cellular automata) and spatial statistics. This work addresses critical domains including (i) landscape management (e.g. weighing tradeoffs between ecosystem services); (ii) conservation and recreation planning (e.g. identifying special and valued places); and (iii) development of sustainable and resilient communities (e.g. health and well-being of communities).
Publications
Campbell-Arvai, Victoria, et al. "Tree selection for a virtual urban park: Comparing aided and unaided decision-making to support public engagement in greenspace design." Urban Forestry & Urban Greening 99 (2024): 128447.
Van Berkel, D., Estabrook, T., Fox, N., Bejarano, R. A., Maillard, L., Gill, D., ... & Lemos, M. C. (2023). PPGISr: An R package for Public Participatory GIS. SoftwareX, 22, 101389.
Ghermandi, A., Langemeyer, J., Van Berkel, D., Calcagni, F., Depietri, Y., Vigl, L. E., ... & Wood, S. A. (2023). Social media data for environmental sustainability: A critical review of opportunities, threats, and ethical use. One Earth, 6(3), 236-250.
Van Berkel, D., Kalafatis, S., Gibbons, B., Naud, M., & Lemos, M. C. (2022). Planning for climate migration in Great Lake legacy cities. Earth's Future, 10(10), e2022EF002942.
Jennifer Koch, Monica A Dorning,Van Berkel, Derek B, Scott M Beck, Georgina M Sanchez, Ashwin Shashidharan, Lindsey S Smart, Qiang Zhang, Jordan W Smith, and Ross K Meentemeyer. Modeling landowner interactions and development patterns at the urban fringe.Landscape andUrban Planning, 182:101–113, 2019
Johannes Hermes,Derek Van Berkel, Benjamin Burkhard, Tobias Plieninger, Nora Fagerholm,Christina von Haaren, and Christian Albert. Assessment and valuation of recreational ecosystemservices of landscapes, 2018
Derek B Van Berkel, Payam Tabrizian, Monica A Dorning, Lindsey Smart, Doug Newcomb, Megan Mehaffey, Anne Neale, and Ross K Meentemeyer. Quantifying the visual-sensory landscape qualities that contribute to cultural ecosystem services using social media and lidar. Ecosystem Services, 2018
Boris T van Zanten, Derek B Van Berkel, Ross K Meentemeyer, Jordan W Smith, Koen F Tieskens,and Peter H Verburg. Continental-scale quantification of landscape values using social media data. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, page 201614158, 2016
Derek B Van Berkel and Peter H Verburg. Spatial quantification and valuation of cultural ecosystem services in an agricultural landscape.Ecological indicators, 37:163–174, 2014
Derek B Van Berkel and Peter H Verburg. Sensitising rural policy: Assessing spatial variation in rural development options for europe. Land Use Policy, 28(3):447–459, 2011
Research
My research examines the human dimensions of land-cover/land-use change and ecosystem services at diverse scales. It aims to use spatial analysis and geovisualizations of social and environmental data and spatial thinking to develop solutions for today’s most pressing environmental challenges. Within this growing body of interdisciplinary work, I leverage social theory, big data, machine learning, spatial-temporal computer modeling (e.g. agent-based and cellular automata) and spatial statistics.
Education
Ph.D. Spatial Analysis and Decision Support, VU University Amsterdam, 2012.
M.S. Human Geography and Urban Planning, Utrecht University, 2007.B.A. Human Geography, University of Calgary, 2004.
Affiliations
Co-PI of GLISA
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