scholarly journals Macro-spatial approach for evaluating the impact of socio-economics, land use, built environment, and road facility on pedestrian safety

2017 ◽  
Vol 44 (12) ◽  
pp. 1036-1044 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmed Osama ◽  
Tarek Sayed

With the increasing demand for sustainability, walking is being encouraged as a main active mode of transportation. However, pedestrians are vulnerable to severe injuries when involved in crashes, which can discourage road users from walking. Therefore, studying the factors that affect the safety of pedestrians is important. This paper investigates the relationship between pedestrian-vehicle crashes and various zone characteristics in the city of Vancouver. The goal is to assess the impact of socio-economics, land use, built environment, and road facility on pedestrian safety using macro-level collision prediction models. The models were developed using generalized linear regression and full Bayesian techniques. Both walking trips and vehicle kilometres travelled were used as the main traffic exposure variables in the models. The safety models showed that pedestrian-motorist crashes were non-linearly positively associated with the increase in traffic exposure. The crashes were also found positively associated with the socio-economic variables (i.e., employment and household densities), some built environment variables (transit stop, traffic signal, and light pole densities), commercial area density, and arterial-collector roads proportion. On the other hand, the models revealed a decline in the pedestrian-motorist crashes associated with the increase in the proportions of pedestrian-actuated signals and local roads, as well as the increase in the recreational and residential areas’ densities. The spatial effects were accounted for in the full Bayes models and were found significant, which imply the importance of considering spatial correlation when developing macro-level pedestrian safety models.

Author(s):  
Ahmed Osama ◽  
Tarek Sayed

With the increasing demand for sustainability, the use of cycling as an efficient active mode of transportation is being encouraged. However, the vulnerability of cyclists to severe injuries in crashes can discourage road users from cycling. Therefore, the study of the factors that affect the safety of cyclists is important. This paper describes an investigation of the relationship between cyclist–motorist crashes and various traffic zone characteristics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The goal was to assess the impacts of socioeconomics, land use, the built environment, and the road facility on cyclist safety through the use of macrolevel collision prediction models. The models were developed by generalized linear regression and full Bayesian techniques. An actual bike exposure indicator (the number of bike kilometers traveled) and the number of vehicle kilometers traveled were used as exposure variables in the models. The safety models showed that cyclist–motorist crashes were nonlinearly associated with an increase in bike, vehicle, and transit traffic as well as socioeconomic variables (i.e., population, employment, and household densities), variables related to the built environment (transit stop, traffic signal, and light pole densities), commercial area density, and the proportion if arterial–collector roads. The models revealed, however, a decline in cyclist–motorist crashes in association with an increase in the proportions of local roads and off-street bike links and an increase in recreational and residential area densities. The spatial effects were accounted for in the full Bayes models and were found to be significant; such a finding implies the importance of consideration of the spatial correlation in the development of macrolevel cyclist safety models.


Urban Studies ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 54 (12) ◽  
pp. 2683-2700 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuel Wolff ◽  
Annegret Haase ◽  
Dagmar Haase ◽  
Nadja Kabisch

After several decades, an increasing number of European cities have been experiencing population growth after a longer phase of decline. This new growth represents not just a quantitative phenomenon but also has qualitative implications for the urban space and the built environment. A juxtaposition of re- and de-densification, as well as changes in land use, in the form of a small-scale spatial mosaic, can be observed. A crucial factor for estimating the relationship between the built environment and demand for it is population density. Increasing population densities may put pressure on sustaining a certain quality of life and on ecological recovery spaces. In this vein, an indicator concept for re- and de-densification will be applied to the city of Leipzig, one of the most illustrative examples of a regrowing city, in order to shed light on the complex relationship between changing human housing demands and their impact on land use. The concept involves measuring population density. Our study has demonstrated that, although similar density changes can be observed in different periods in different parts of the city, they are dominated by different drivers, leading to the formation of different spatial patterns. The results of our study emphasise that regrowth should be understood as a distinctive process because it is distributed very heterogeneously within the city area, with a variety of spatial effects and impacts. The concept allows us to draw conclusions about processes that mitigate, drive or reinforce regrowth, and therefore contributes to a better understanding of this phenomenon and its implications for land use.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 108-129
Author(s):  
Andrew G. Mueller ◽  
Daniel J. Trujillo

This study furthers existing research on the link between the built environment and travel behavior, particularly mode choice (auto, transit, biking, walking). While researchers have studied built environment characteristics and their impact on mode choice, none have attempted to measure the impact of zoning on travel behavior. By testing the impact of land use regulation in the form of zoning restrictions on travel behavior, this study expands the literature by incorporating an additional variable that can be changed through public policy action and may help cities promote sustainable real estate development goals. Using a unique, high-resolution travel survey dataset from Denver, Colorado, we develop a multinomial discrete choice model that addresses unobserved travel preferences by incorporating sociodemographic, built environment, and land use restriction variables. The results suggest that zoning can be tailored by cities to encourage reductions in auto usage, furthering sustainability goals in transportation.


2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 110-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yan Li ◽  
Chunlu Liu

Urban flooding has been a severe problem for many cities around the world as it remains one of the greatest threats to the property and safety of human communities. In Australia, it is seen as the most expensive natural hazard. However, urban areas that are impervious to rainwater have been sharply increasing owing to booming construction activities and rapid urbanisation. The change in the built environment may cause more frequent and longer duration of flooding in floodprone urban regions. Thus, the flood inundation issue associated with the effects of land uses needs to be explored and developed. This research constructs a framework for modelling urban flood inundation. Different rainfall events are then designed for examining the impact on flash floods generated by land-use changes. Measurement is formulated for changes of topographical features over a real time series. Geographic Information System (GIS) technologies are then utilised to visualise the effects of land-use changes on flood inundation under different types of storms. Based on a community-based case study, the results reveal that the built environment leads to varying degrees of aggravation of urban flash floods with different storm events and a few rainwater storage units may slightly mitigate flooding extents under different storm conditions. Hence, it is recommended that the outcomes of this study could be applied to flood assessment measures for urban development and the attained results could be utilised in government planning to raise awareness of flood hazard.


2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-87
Author(s):  
Ali Farhan ◽  
Lina Kattan ◽  
Richard Tay

The problem of collisions on local roads has received little specific attention despite the considerable number of such collisions that occur each year. First part of this study identifies the factors that influence local road collision frequency at traffic analysis zone (TAZ) level with a particular focus on the planning and policy related variables. The City of Calgary is used as a case study, where we focus on the impacts of land use, demographic characteristics, and travel characteristics. We also investigate the effects of some key transportation planning parameters for which there have been very limited studies, including the number of personal and commercial trips and the employment numbers in various categories. This study examines the impact of the number of trips made by automobile versus more sustainable transport modes like transit, walking, and biking for personal travel. It also examines the impact of commercial truck movement on the number of collisions on local roads in a TAZ. The impact of transit-oriented development zone initiatives is explored, as is the relationship between the predominant land use type (e.g., residential, commercial, industrial) and the number of collisions on local roads. In the second part, collision prediction models were linked with regional transportation model (RTM), which is calibrated and modeled in EMME. Since the choice of transportation mode is explicitly modeled through utility functions in the RTM, the proposed approach will allow us to do scenario analysis for planning and policy level issues proactively such as impact on local collisions due to change in fuel price, parking cost, transit headway, and transit fare. Results showed that property damage only (PDO) and fatal and injury (FI) collisions decreased by 13% and 6%, respectively, when fuel price was doubled. It was also observed that PDO and FI collisions decreased by 8% and 5%, respectively, when parking cost was doubled. PDO and FI collisions decreased by 7% and 4%, respectively, when transit headway was reduced to half. When transit fare was reduced to half, PDO and FI collisions decreased by 5% and 2%, respectively. PDO and FI collisions decreased by 10% and 5%, respectively, when transit fare was set to zero. These scenario analyses demonstrate how the impact of transportation planning or policy level issues on the collision count on local roads can be incorporated in our proposed model.


2021 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 515-540
Author(s):  
Tanu Priya Uteng ◽  
Andre Uteng

The transport sector aims to address climate change by reducing emissions, and a key to achieving this goal is to increase uptake of sustainable modes such as walking, cycling, and public transport. Therefore, it is important to determine ways to achieve this goal and to build a portfolio of feasible reduction strategies. This study is based in Norway where the government has a clear policy objective to reduce growth in urban car traffic and assimilate future sustainable transport modes. Cycling has therefore gained importance in both policy discussions and programme implementation through providing dedicated infrastructure to increase its modal share. Ways to increase cycling can be plotted at both macro- and microlevels. At the micro-level, road design and improved conditions for cyclists can lead to an increase in cycling. At the macro-level, land-use planning can be one of the tools to promote cycling. We analyse the issue at a macro-level based on an Integrated Methodology for Land Use prognosis within Transportation Models (INMAP) which estimates the mutual eff ects of land-use plans and increased accessibility by e-bike. We assess the extent to which future growth areas, as earmarked by the strategic master plans of the cities of Oslo and Trondheim, coincide with the areas that have a high job accessibility by bicycle and e-bike. Analyses reveal that on the introduction of e-bikes in Oslo, accessibility to jobs in the city centre increases from 20,000–24,000 to over 28,000 jobs. For Trondheim, in terms of spatial expansion of accessibility for jobs, there is an extension of the catchment area from 6 km2 to 18 km2. Based on the findings, this study strongly recommends integrating the impact of e-bikes with land-use planning processes and decisions. Through active land-use management, municipalities and regional development authorities can take informed decisions to steer urban mobility in a more sustainable direction.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 44-63
Author(s):  
Mkama Thomas Manyama ◽  
Cuthbert Leonard Nahonyo ◽  
Aloyce Shaban Hepelwa

The degradation of any ecosystem services (ES) and the benefits human being enjoy from nature freely involve multifaceted processes such as those in built environment. The ecological security and multiple functions of the coastal zone of Dar es Salaam is of paramount importance to the sustainability of its natural and anthropogenic systems. Therefore, permanent/temporary conversion of a piece of land for construction space provisions profoundly affects the functionality and connectedness of nature–anthropogenic ecosystem. This study quantified land use landcover changes from Landsat satellite imageries, then evaluated the changes using recognizable coefficients for ecosystem services values (ESV). Applying Geographical Information System (GIS) techniques, the impacts of built environment on ESV were analysed using land use landcover change (LULCC) transfer matrix, carbon stock dynamics and soil erosion influence on soil fauna. The results revealed expansive BE from 10.6 percent in 1995 to 22.8 percent in 2016. Loss of forest by 64.5 percent in the study period explained the declining total ESV by 56.1 percent and per capita recreation potential by 2.3 percent. Similarly, decreasing forest cover led to high carbon dioxide emission, notably, the 353.24 t CO2 ha-1 yr-1 in the period between 1995 and 2005. Furthermore, in 1995 bushland experienced high soil erosion while in 2016 built environment displayed a similar trend as the rest of the land use landcover (LULC) classes. From geospatial analysis, the southern area displayed significant vegetation cover change as compared to the built environment dominant in the northern section of Dar es Salaam coastline. Initiative to reducing built environment by 1 percent saves forest loss by 5.28 percent and carbon sequestration at a tune of 28.95 t CO2 ha-1 yr-1; hence improves ecological services values by 4.60 percent.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-48
Author(s):  
Keith Ihlanfeldt

There has been considerable interest in the impact that the built environment has on vehicle miles traveled (VMT). While this issue has been extensively researched, due to the heavy reliance on cross-sectional data, there remains uncertainty regarding how effective local land-use planning and regulation might be in reducing VMT. Based on a 13-year panel of Florida counties, models are estimated that relate VMT to new measures of the spatial distribution of alternative land uses within counties and county urban expansion. Identification of causal effects is established by including year and county fixed effects, along with an extensive set of control variables, and instrumenting those land uses that may be endogenous. Incremental annual changes in the spatial concentration of alternative land uses are found to affect VMT. The policy implication is that appropriate land-use policy can reduce VMT and should be considered part of the strategy for dealing with the problem of global warming.


Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 986
Author(s):  
Yuanyuan Ma ◽  
Yunzi Yang ◽  
Hongzan Jiao

In the era of public participation in government, public emotions and expectations are important considerations influencing urban construction, planning, and management. A desirable urban environment can make people feel at ease and comfortable and contribute to promoting positive public emotions. However, in the process of rapid urban development, the high-density and overloaded urban built environment has triggered people’s mental tension and anxiety and has contributed to negative emotions. Thus, this study aimed to explore the spatial distribution of public emotions and urban built environments in cities and to thoroughly investigate the correlation between urban built environments and public emotions. Considering the lack of dynamic elements analysis and emotions spatial analysis in previous studies, this study takes Wuhan City as an example, uses social media big data as the basis for text emotion analysis, introduces dynamic traffic elements, and establishes a multidimensional urban built environment measurement index system from five aspects: land use, spatial form, road and traffic, green space and open space, and daily life service facilities. Subsequently, the spatial distribution characteristics of public sentiment and urban built environment elements in Wuhan were analyzed. Finally, a geographically weighted regression method was used to analyze the degree of influence of different urban built environment elements on public emotions. The results showed that public emotions in Wuhan are not homogeneously distributed in terms of score and space and that there are significant differences. The urban built environment has a significant influence on public emotions. Higher land use mix, higher road network density, higher number of public transportation facilities, higher number of public open spaces, lower traffic congestion, and impact of freight transportation play important roles in promoting positive emotions. Therefore, in the process of urban construction, planners and decision makers should purposefully improve the quality of the built environment. Measures can include improving the mix of land functions, alleviating traffic congestion, avoiding the negative effects of freight traffic, rationally constructing green and open spaces, and improving various living facilities. This can help contribute toward improving urban functions and urban environments, and promote the construction of a people-oriented healthy city.


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