Impact of a Proposed Reservoir on Local Land Values

Authors

Philip Drucker, University of Kentucky
Charles R. Smith, University of Kentucky
Allen C. Turner, University of Kentucky

Abstract

This project was designed to study the impact of private preconstruction land acquisition in a Central Kentucky area in which a flood-control dam and reservoir impoundment is planned. The research design was built around use of anthropological concepts and research techniques. By these means it was possible to analyze the perceived values of land to traditionalist residents, among which social and economic security concepts are paramount. Recent land purchases, locally believed to have been made chiefly by "outsiders," (urbanites from nearby Louisville), at prices out of line in terms of local agricultural worth, has been extremely unsettling contributing to the anxiety pattern typical of persons facing dislocation and their sympathizers. The newly developing pattern of land purchase, with values related to residential convenience, and access to the urban center, rather than to traditional agricultural values, has been accepted by a certain segment of the local population who appear to be trying to take advantage of the urban economic opportunities while retaining at least part of the rural value system and continuing to participate in rural society and rurally esteemed activities.

Publication Date

7-1972

Report Number

51

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.13023/kwrri.rr.51

Funding Information

The work on which this report is based was supported in part by funds provided by the Office of Water Resources Research, United States Department of the Interior, as authorized under the Water Resources Research Act of 1964.

Repository Citation

Drucker, Philip; Smith, Charles R.; and Turner, Allen C., "Impact of a Proposed Reservoir on Local Land Values" (1972). KWRRI Research Reports. 144.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/kwrri_reports/144