Blog Archives

The impact of street network connectivity on pedestrian volume

This paper investigates the impact of street network connectivity on pedestrian volume. Street
network connectivity measured in most current studies captures only the metric characteristics
of streets or physical connectivity. A whole different type of connectivity, visual connectivity, is
largely ignored. Described in basic terms, higher physical connectivity means shorter travel time
to reach the same number of destinations while higher visual connectivity means fewer turns to
see the same number of destinations. Despite the correlation of these two connectivity constructs, studying both physical and visual connectivity is essential to better understand the role of
street network on pedestrian activity. Using pedestrian counts of 302 street segments in Buffalo,
New York, structural equation modelling highlights the multiple relationships between street network connectivity, built environment characteristics, and pedestrian volumes. Our findings
suggest that both the conventional metric-based measure of physical connectivity and geometric based measure of visual connectivity have significant positive impacts on pedestrian volumes,
together with job density and land use mix. This outcome can encourage practitioners to pay
attention to both the geometry of street network and its metric characteristics in order to create
a pedestrian-friendly environment.

Park design and children’s active play: a microscale spatial analysis of intensity of play in Olmsted’s Delaware Park

This paper offers a microscale exploration of the role of park design on the intensity of physical activity among youth. The actual, unstructured use of a park—specifically, Delaware Park, an Olmsted-designed park in Buffalo, New York—by ninety-four children was observed and analyzed objectively using geographic information systems, global positioning systems, and accelerometers. Data were analyzed at the scale of 25 ft × 25 ft cells overlaid as a grid on the entire park. Results from the regression analysis show that particular features of parks—especially complexity in landscape surfaces, proximity to sport facilities and playgrounds, and the availability of pedestrian trails—enable greater intensity of youth physical activity in a park.

Municipal property acquisition patterns in a shrinking city: Evidence for the persistence of an urban growth paradigm in Buffalo, NY

Abstract:

The purpose of this article is to examine municipal property acquisition patterns in shrinking cities. We use data from the City of Buffalo’s municipal property auction records to analyze the spatial distribution of properties offered for sale in its annual tax foreclosure auction. In addition to these data, we examine demolition and building permit records. Our analysis suggests that cities like Buffalo follow strategies based on an urban growth paradigm when responding to abandonment. This paradigm operates under the assumption that growth is a constant and urban development is only limited by fiscal constraints, underdeveloped systems of urban governance, environmental degradation, and resistance by anti-growth coalitions. We recommend that planners in shrinking cities de-emphasize growth-based planning and focus on rightsizing strategies. These strategies are based on the assumption that growth is not a constant. Consequently, urban revitalization is concentrated in a smaller urban footprint.

‘Big Data’ for Pedestrian Volume: Exploring the use of Google Street View Images for Pedestrian Counts

New sources of data such as ‘big data’ and computational analytics have stimulated innovative pedestrian oriented research. Current studies, however, are still limited and subjective with regard to the use of Google Street View and other online sources for environment audits or pedestrian counts because of the manual information extraction and compilation, especially for large areas. This study aims to provide future research an alternative method to conduct large scale data collection more consistently and objectively on pedestrian counts and possibly for environment audits and stimulate discussion of the use of ‘big data’ and recent computational advances for planning and design. We explore and report information needed to automatically download and assemble Google Street View images, as well as other image parameters for a wide range of analysis and visualization, and explore extracting pedestrian count data based on these images using machine vision and learning technology. The reliability tests results based on pedestrian information collected from over 200 street segments in Buffalo, NY, Washington, D.C., and Boston, MA respectively suggested that the image detection method used in this study are capable of determining the presence of pedestrian with a reasonable level of accuracy. The limitation and potential improvement of the proposed method is also discussed.

Creating sustainable urban built environments: An application of hedonic house price models in Wuhan, China

Abstract:

Due to rapid urbanization, auto-mobility, and industrialization, the increasing desire to protect environments and satisfy residents has led to an emphasis on the creation of sustainable urban environments in China. This paper is an empirical study using hedonic price models to examine a comprehensive set of environmental sustainability elements including green space, transit systems, and central business districts (CBDs) and compare their relative importance in Wuhan, China. The results show that among all housing characteristics, environmental sustainability elements had the greatest impacts on house prices. Natural water resources have the most significant positive effects on property values when they are integrated with cultural, tourism, and commercial resources to form natural recreation clusters or areas. Also, home buyers are willing to pay more for housing clusters or subdivisions with proximity to CBDs. In addition, the significant negative effects of light rail on house prices within a 1-mile radius indicate that it has not become an attractive amenity to home buyers, due to combined effects of other neighborhood amenities, little land use diversity, and the fare system. These results have implications for local and regional governments in setting priorities for sustainable development.

Municipal property acquisition patterns in a shrinking city: Evidence for the persistence of an urban growth paradigm in Buffalo, NY

The purpose of this article is to examine municipal property acquisition patterns in shrinking cities. We use data from the City of Buffalo’s municipal
property auction records to analyze the spatial distribution of properties offered for sale in its annual tax foreclosure auction. In addition to these data, we examine demolition and building permit records. Our analysis suggests that cities like Buffalo follow strategies based on an urban growth paradigm when responding to abandonment. This paradigm operates under the assumption that growth is a constant and urban development is only limited by fiscal constraints, underdeveloped systems of urban governance, environmental degradation, and resistance by anti-growth coalitions. We recommend that planners in shrinking cities de-emphasize growthbased planning and focus on rightsizing strategies. These strategies are based on
the assumption that growth is not a constant. Consequently, urban revitalization is concentrated in a smaller urban footprint.

Housing abandonment and demolition: Exploring the use of micro-level and multi-year models

Policies focusing on enforcing property code violations and the improvement of vacant properties are argued to be more efficacious than demolition policies to fight urban blight. This study applies parcel level data to a multi-year hybrid modeling structure. A fine-grained analysis is conducted on the dynamic patterns of abandonment and demolition for a unique period of four years before and after the City of Buffalo’s stepped-up demolition efforts. Results showed that proximity to vacant and abandoned properties, sustained over the years, had the greatest impact on the possibility of a property being abandoned. The second greatest positive impact on property abandonment was small lot front size. Results also showed that neighborhood vacancy density had the greatest negative impact on surrounding housing sales prices over the years. There was no significant impact of demolition on housing sales prices. These findings suggested that the City should aim to have more incentive programs that are tailored to control the number of vacant properties, rather than focusing primarily on demolition-oriented programs.

Neighborhood characteristics and the location of HUD subsidized housing in shrinking cities: An analysis to inform anchor-based urban revitalization strategies

This article focuses on the manner in which affordable housing fits into anchor-based strategies for urban revitalization. It involves quantitative analysis of the location of existing HUD-subsidized housing in relation to neighborhood characteristics. The goal of the article is twofold. First, we examine the degree to which neighborhood characteristics associated with neighborhoods of opportunity correlate with the location of HUD-subsidized housing in shrinking cities. Second, we make recommendations for more equitable approaches to anchor-based urban revitalization. Our analysis uses a unique database developed to measure neighborhood characteristics in shrinking US cities. Our findings suggest that the location of affordable housing is not correlated with proximity to institutional and neighborhood amenities, where anchor-based revitalization is targeted. As a result, we make recommendations to link future affordable housing siting to anchor-based strategies for inner-city revitalization.

Imag(in)ing Everyday Geographies: A case study of Andrew Buckles’ Why Wait? Project

This article introduces an interdisciplinary collaboration that brings together sympathetic trends in qualitative geographic visualization (from the perspective of one author who is a geographer) and contemporary generative artistic practices (from the perspective of the other author, who is an artist and theorist)—attempting to represent a diverse array of creative and multi-modal data through generative and participatory digital methods. We present how this convergence expands categories of meaning, allowing us to explore experiential/embodied as well as creative/imaginative engagements with everyday geographies distinct to a digital age. The article mediates on the idea of mapping the imagination and the ways we imagine quotidian spaces, as well as possibilities for new methods for the analysis and representation of spatial and emotional complexity. We particularly explore strategies of integrating multiple technologies and multiple-modes of representation for mapping and re-mapping complexities of social and creative living in order to help provide alternate ways to imagine, represent and engage different forms of embodied and imaginative geographies. This article presents a case study with the artist Andrew Buckles, in Seattle, Washington, correlating representational and participatory digital data including geospatial, temporal, audio, video as well as electroencephalography readings from brainwave sensors.