Skip to main content

Utility

  • Admissions
  • Exploring Grad School
  • Current Students
  • Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
  • Faculty + Staff
  • Alumni
Give
COVID-19 UPDATES
Report Sexual Misconduct
Home

Main navigation

search icon Search
  • Academics
    • Master of Science
    • Master of Landscape Architecture
    • Doctoral (PhD)
    • Dual-Degree Programs
    • Graduate Certificate Programs
    • Undergraduate Program
    • Courses
  • Research + Impact
    • Sustainability Themes
    • PhD Profiles
    • Student Research
    • Centers + Institutes
    • Faculty Profiles
    • Labs
  • Admissions
    • Exploring Graduate School
    • Why Michigan?
    • How to Apply
    • Funding
    • Visit Campus
    • For International Students
    • For Admitted Students
  • Student Services
    • Financial Aid
    • Career Services
    • Student Organizations
    • Student Development
    • Forms, Handbooks + Policies
  • News
    • Community Highlights
    • In the Media
  • Events
    • Co-Sponsorship Form
    • Submit Event
    • Conferences
    • Gallery
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • Leadership
    • Faculty Profiles
    • Administrative Departments + Staff
    • Facilities + Locations
    • Diversity, Equity + Inclusion
    • Art & Environment Gallery
    • History

  • Admissions
  • Exploring Grad School
  • Current Students
  • Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
  • Faculty + Staff
  • Alumni
Give
COVID-19 UPDATES
Report Sexual Misconduct
search icon Search

Faculty

Image
SEAS Faculty
  • Who We Are
  • Leadership
  • Faculty Profiles
  • Administrative Departments + Staff
  • Facilities + Locations
  • Diversity, Equity + Inclusion
  • Art & Environment Gallery
  • History

Main navigation

  • Who We Are
  • Leadership
  • Faculty Profiles
  • Administrative Departments + Staff
  • Facilities + Locations
  • Diversity, Equity + Inclusion
  • Art & Environment Gallery
  • History
back to all faculty

Raymond De Young

Associate Professor
Behavior, Education, and Communication
Landscape Architecture
Climate + Energy
Food Systems
rdeyoung@umich.edu
(734) 763-3129
Office
2034a Dana

About

Raymond De Young, PhD, is a broadly trained psychologist, planner, and engineer. He serves as an Associate Professor of Environmental Psychology and Planning at SEAS, an Associate Professor in the Program in the Environment (PitE), a Faculty Associate at the Matthaei Botanical Gardens & Nichols Arboretum, and a Faculty Affiliate for the Graham Sustainability Institute. His research focus is on the process of re-localization, a response to emerging biophysical limits and the consequences of having deeply disrupted the Earth's ecosystems. De Young applies conservation and environmental psychology principles to the challenge of helping people to envision and adopt pragmatic behavioral responses that support an urgent transition to a life lived within local resource limits. Despite what for some people is a dismal forecast, his work is decidedly hopeful. He is described as neither an optimist nor pessimist when it comes to human behavior, but rather an idealist without illusions.

His current work includes both theoretical and empirical research on (1) helping people to pre-familiarize themselves with the behavioral apsects of the coming resource downshift, (2) motivating environmental stewardship and voluntary simplicity using intrinsic motivation and innate satisfactions and (3) using nature to restore the mental vitality needed for responding to and coping with the lean and difficult yet exciting times ahead. Two current projects include examining the psychological foundations of behavioral aesthetics and behavioral entrepreneurship, and the promotion of voluntary simplicity.

Publications

  • De Young R. (2019) Supporting Behavioural Entrepreneurs: Using the Biodiversity-Health Relationship to Help Citizens Self-Initiate Sustainability Behaviour. In: Marselle M., Stadler J., Korn H., Irvine K., Bonn A. (eds) Biodiversity and Health in the Face of Climate Change. (Pp. 295-313) Springer, Cham

  • De Young, R. (2019). Supporting behavioral entrepreneurs: Using the biodiversity-health relationship to help citizens self-initiate sustainability behavior. In Marselle, M., J. Stadler, H. Korn, K. Irvine and A. Bonn [Eds.] Biodiversity and Health in the Face of Climate Change. (Pp. 295-313) Switzerland: Springer.
  • Harbo, S. and R. De Young (2019). Community-based resource sharing: Motivations and spillover effect. In Boucher, J. and J. Heinonen [Eds.] Sustainable Consumption, Promise or Myth? Case Studies from the Field. (Ch. 6, Pp. 100-120) Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

  • Landeryou, T. and R. De Young (2018). Foodloose in Washtenaw: A Foodie's Guide to Washtenaw County. Ann Arbor, MI: Michigan Publishing Service.

  • Hamilton, E. M., M. L. Guckian and R. De Young (2018). Living well and living green: Participant conceptualizations of green citizenship. In W. Leal and J. Callewaert (Eds.) Handbook of Sustainability and Social Science Research. Pp. 315-334, World Sustainability Series. Switzerland: Springer.

  • Guckian, M. L., E. M. Hamilton and R. De Young (2018). Cognitive mapping as participatory engagement in social science research on sustainability. In W. Leal and J. Callewaert (Eds.) Handbook of Sustainability and Social Science Research. Pp. 337-352, World Sustainability Series. Switzerland: Springer.

  • Guckian, M. L., S. Harbo and R. De Young (2017). Beyond green consumerism: Uncovering the motivations of green citizenship. Michigan Journal of Sustainability, 5(1), 73-94.

  • De Young, R., K. Scheuer, J. Roush and K. Kozeleski (2016). Student interest in campus community gardens: Sowing the seeds for direct engagement with sustainability. In W. Leal Filho and M. Zint (Eds.) The Contribution of Social Sciences to Sustainable Development at Universities. World Sustainability Series. Pp. 161-175, Switzerland: Springer.

  • De Young, R. (2014). Some behavioral aspects of energy descent: How a biophysical psychology might help people transition through the lean times ahead. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 1255.

  • De Young, R. (2013). Transitioning to a new normal: How ecopsychology can help society prepare for the harder times ahead. Ecopsychology, 5, 237-239.

  • De Young, R. (2013). Environmental psychology overview. In Ann H. Huffman & Stephanie Klein (Eds.) Green Organizations: Driving Change with IO Psychology. (Pp. 17-33) NY: Routledge.

  • De Young, R. & T. Princen (2012). The Localization Reader: Adapting to the Coming Downshift. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

 

Read more publications here. 

Research

Selected student-involved research projects:

  • 2020: Creating a library of workshops for enhancing neighborhood resilience.

  • 2020: Developing an Ypsilanti, Michigan resilience hub.

  • 2019: Enhancing knowledge sharing and collaboration among farms at healthcare facilities.

  • 2019: Localizing the Mackinac Island, Michigan foodshed.

  • 2018: University-community partnerships for re-skilling and resilience building.

  • 2018: Preparing for climate change with psychological resilience and well-being in Northeast US communities.

  • 2018: Psychological and organizational principles of a new model for selling locally grown food.

  • 2018: Foodloose: Stories and tours through Washtenaw County's local food system.

  • 2018: Assessing psychological well-being outcomes from involvement in planned, agriculturally-based sustainable communities.

  • 2017: Living well and living green: Participant conceptualizations of green citizenship.

  • 2017: Community-based resource sharing: Motivations and spillover effects.

  • 2017: The Farm at St. Joe’s: Growing healthy and resilient communities.

  • 2016: Sustainable food systems at the University of Michigan.

  • 2016: The Farm at St. Joe’s education program evaluation.

  • 2015: Evaluating a farm-based nutrition and health educational program.

  • 2014: Transition Times: YouTube/VideoScribe localization cases.

  • 2012: Urgent transitions: Responding to emerging biophysical limits.

Education

PhD, University of Michigan

MS, Stevens Institute of Technology

BS, Stevens Institute of Technology

In the News
resilience hub spaces
January 11, 2021

Implementing Resilience Hubs in Ypsilanti, Michigan

In the 2010s, global conditions including increasing temperatures, worsening income inequality, and insufficient access to social services catalyzed improved community building and localized solutions for climate-related challenges. This led to the conceptualization of resilience hubs—spaces that support residents and aid in distribution of resources before, during, and after a climate-related stressor.

In the Media
03/01/2019
Sustainable Food Systems Initiative Faculty Spotlight: Raymond De Young
Websites
Localization Papers (blog)
ResearchGate (publications)
<i>Foodloose in Washtenaw: A Foodie&#039;s Guide to Washtenaw County (2018)</i>
Sustainable Food Systems profile
seas logo
Dana Building
440 Church Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
(734) 764-6708
Email us
facebook
twitter
instagram
linkedin
youtube

Footer

  • Contact us
  • Intranet

© 2021 The Regents of the University of Michigan | Privacy Policy | Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Produced by Michigan Creative