The Relationship between Severe Weather Warnings, Storm Reports, and Storm Cell Frequency in and around Several Large Metropolitan Areas

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (5) ◽  
pp. 1339-1358 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason Naylor ◽  
Aaron Sexton

Abstract The spatial distribution of storm-based severe weather warnings, local storm reports, and radar-detected storm cells around six large cities in the central United States is examined from October 2007 to May 2017. The cities are Columbus, Ohio; Cincinnati, Ohio; Indianapolis, Indiana; Louisville, Kentucky; Nashville, Tennessee; and St. Louis, Missouri. In all six cities, warning counts within 20 km of the city center are found to vary by 20%–40%. In every city except St. Louis, a maximum in warnings is located 5–15 km to the east (downwind) of the city center. Additional analysis reveals that the location of the warning maxima often varies with wind direction. Areas of enhanced convective activity are also evident in and around each city. Many of these areas are found to the east of the city center and are coincident with areas of increased warnings. This alignment could suggest that urban influences are creating areas of enhanced severe weather potential on the eastern side of large cities. However, there are also instances where the locations of maxima in warnings, local storm reports, and convective activity are spatially offset. In these locations, it is possible that other factors are impacting the distribution of one or more of these fields.

Urban Science ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 37
Author(s):  
Georgios-Rafail Kouklis ◽  
Athena Yiannakou

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the contribution of urban morphology to the formation of microclimatic conditions prevailing within urban outdoor spaces. We studied the compact form of a city and examined, at a detailed, street plan level, elements related to air temperature, urban ventilation, and the individual’s thermal comfort. All elements examined are directly affected by both the urban form and the availability of open and green spaces. The field study took place in a typical compact urban fabric of an old city center, the city center of Thessaloniki, where we investigated the relationship between urban morphology and microclimate. Urban morphology was gauged by examining the detailed street plan, along with the local building patterns. We used a simulation method based on the ENVI-met© software. The findings of the field study highlight the fact that the street layout, the urban canyon, and the open and green spaces in a compact urban form contribute decisively both to the creation of the microclimatic conditions and to the influence of the bioclimatic parameters.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Junfeng Jiao ◽  
Shunhua Bai

This paper investigated the travel patterns of 1.7 million shared E-scooter trips from April 2018 to February 2019 in Austin, TX. There were more than 6000 active E-scooters in operation each month, generating over 150,000 trips and covered approximately 117,000 miles. During this period, the average travel distance and operation time of E-scooter trips were 0.77 miles and 7.55 min, respectively. We further identified two E-scooter usage hotspots in the city (Downtown Austin and the University of Texas campus). The spatial analysis showed that more trips originated from Downtown Austin than were completed, while the opposite was true for the UT campus. We also investigated the relationship between the number of E-scooter trips and the surrounding environments. The results show that areas with higher population density and more residents with higher education were correlated with more E-scooter trips. A shorter distance to the city center, the presence of transit stations, better street connectivity, and more compact land use were also associated with increased E scooter usage in Austin, TX. Surprisingly, the proportion of young residents within a neighborhood was negatively correlated with E-scooter usage.


2020 ◽  
pp. 139-172
Author(s):  
Bretton White

Chapter 4 investigates the relationship between fear and perceptibility in the play Chamaco (2006) by Abel González Melo. Using works by queer theorist José Esteban Muñoz, it explores how gay and transvestite characters travel through and manipulate the central city spaces of Havana, most notably the Parque Central, transforming official, celebratory spaces of the nation into concealed meeting places that reveal the true, queer nature of the city. This chapter argues that this play is concerned with the ethereal, and that the transformative possibilities of queer sex—which in this play occur at the periphery of the city center—can encourage a multiplicity of citizenships that extend from the queer throughout the city, and not just at its edges. In Carlos Celdrán’s direction of Chamaco the physical spaces of stage and city are reconstructed by playing with what is visible to the audience and other characters via lighting. Celdrán makes previously “invisible” queer bodies visible by utilizing light as an inclusionary tactic. Further, he challenges ideas about utopia and dystopia, center and margin, hetero- and homonormative by collapsing the public and private spaces of street and home in his staging of the work.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 4599 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Jancz ◽  
Radoslaw Trojanek

This article identifies and compares the housing preferences of seniors and pre-senior citizens in Poland. In addition, the attitude of residents of large cities in the Wielkopolskie Voivodeship towards senior citizens’ housing was determined. Surveys were conducted in the two largest cities of this region. The influence of the potential behaviors of this group of society on the development of housing was also examined. Results showed that differentiation of housing preferences was visible primarily when choosing the type of development and size of the dwelling. Seniors preferred smaller units in multi-family housing construction. Pre-senior citizens, on the other hand, were more likely to think about living in a single-family house. The location of a new dwelling was also important. Seniors, more often than people aged 50–59, chose a location in the city center. Pre-senior citizens, in contrast, more often decided to live in a rural area or outside the city center. Moreover, the attitude of seniors towards senior citizens’ housing is undecided, which may indicate that many people may change their housing preferences in the future and decide to move.


2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luigino Baldassin ◽  
Massimo Gallo ◽  
Elena Mattevi

The article provides new information on hotel prices and services in 26 European cities and investigates hotel price determinants. In a two-step estimation procedure, the authors first quantify the price effect of single room and hotel services and then examine the relationship between accommodation prices and city characteristics. They find that hotel services differ significantly from city to city and that room characteristics such as size, breakfast, air conditioning, and free-cancellation options are services for which customers are willing to pay a significant markup. Moreover, the service content of accommodation is negatively correlated with the value of the city center where the hotel is located: increasing competition on the European market seems to be producing partial price convergence via adjustment of service and quality content, so that cities with higher factor costs tend to cut service quality while “cheaper” towns improve it.


1927 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 573-597
Author(s):  
Robert E. Cushman

Legislative Apportionment. The problem of the representation of large cities or metropolitan districts in state legislatures is becoming increasingly difficult and acute. The number of states in which a single center of population is with each census approaching a size which entitles it, on the basis of its inhabitants, to a controlling proportion of the representatives in the state legislature grows steadily as the current of population toward the city continues to flow. Certain states have dealt with this situation by frankly and openly discriminating against these metropolitan areas by specifying that they shall never be entitled to more than a fixed percentage of the representatives. The constitutions of certain other states do not permit this, however, but require that after each decennial census a total fixed number of members in the legislative body shall be allotted equally to districts of equal population. If this is done the metropolis is guaranteed under each apportionment the increase in representation to which its proportionate increase in population entitles it. And the answer volunteered to this problem by several state legislatures has been steadily to refuse to reapportion the state.


2021 ◽  
Vol 34 (06) ◽  
pp. 1826-1839
Author(s):  
Aleksey Vladimirovich Popov ◽  
Olga Ivanovna Syrova

The purpose of the present study is to develop a typology of university campuses reflecting all their diversity. The main attention is paid to the peculiarities of the location of the university campuses relative to the settlements, as well as their spatial planning arrangement. In general, depending on the spatial planning arrangement, three types of university campuses are defined and analyzed, namely, dispersed, dissected, and compact (local). The features of university complexes located in the metropolitan areas, largest, and large cities, as well as in medium and small cities, and outside of large settlements in the suburban area have been determined depending on the location of campuses relative to settlements. Besides, the authors have identified the ways of spatial planning development of existing university complexes and justified improving the spatial planning arrangement of university campuses. In general, four ways of the spatial development of existing universities are identified: purchasing facilities in the adjacent territory to expand the existing campus; placing the necessary additional facilities in the adjacent and other areas of the city, that is, integrating into the urban environment; creating an additional campus in a remote territory (often in the suburbs); and moving all or part of the university facilities to a new campus with a full-fledged infrastructure in another area of the city or suburb. The article provides examples of university campuses (complexes) in Russian cities for all the types considered, provided with the attached graphic schemes.


2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 479-489
Author(s):  
Juan Francisco Coloma ◽  
Marta Garcia ◽  
Raúl Guzmán

Small cities with less than 200,000 inhabitants do not usually suffer from chronic congestion problems. However, private vehicles are used excessively, making it necessary to implement measures to encourage further use of public transport and pedestrian mobility to make it more sustainable. Bypasses improve level of service (LOS) by removing cars from the city center, leading to significant reductions in overall travel time. Most studies so far have been conducted in large cities suffering chronic congestion problems, so the aim of this research is to analyze the effects of bypasses in small and non-congested cities through the construction of a traffic model in Badajoz (Spain), starting with the allocation of the origin-destination travel matrix derived from surveys and traffic counts conducted at the southern and eastern accesses. The traffic model describes the mobility in potentially-capturable future southern traffic relationships and allows insights into different alternatives in the construction of a new high LOS road. This research concludes that small cities with no chronic congestion problems should plan bypasses as close as possible to the city, since they are the most economical, produce greater traffic capture, greater time savings, and eliminate the largest number of CO2 emissions from the urban center. The more distant alternatives have a higher LOS, however, these are longer and more expensive solutions that also capture less traffic and thus eliminate less CO2 emissions.


Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (21) ◽  
pp. 7232
Author(s):  
Michal Vorlíček ◽  
Tom Stewart ◽  
Jasper Schipperijn ◽  
Jaroslav Burian ◽  
Lukáš Rubín ◽  
...  

In order to study the relationship between human physical activity and the design of the built environment, it is important to measure the location of human movement accurately. In this study, we compared an inexpensive GPS receiver (Holux RCV-3000) and a frequently used Garmin Forerunner 35 smart watch, with a device that has been validated and recommended for physical activity research (Qstarz BT-Q1000XT). These instruments were placed on six geodetic points, which represented a range of different environments (e.g., residential, open space, park). The coordinates recorded by each device were compared with the known coordinates of the geodetic points. There were no differences in accuracy among the three devices when averaged across the six sites. However, the Garmin was more accurate in the city center and the Holux was more accurate in the park and housing estate areas compared to the other devices. We consider the location accuracy of the Holux and the Garmin to be comparable to that of the Qstarz. Therefore, we consider these devices to be suitable instruments for locating physical activity. Researchers must also consider other differences among these devices (such as battery life) when determining if they are suitable for their research studies.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 418-453 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jun Yang ◽  
Avralt-Od Purevjav ◽  
Shanjun Li

Severe traffic congestion is ubiquitous in large urban centers. This paper provides the first causal estimate of the relationship between traffic density and speed and optimal congestion charges using real-time fine-scale traffic data in Beijing. The identification relies on plausibly exogenous variation in traffic density induced by Beijing’s driving restriction policy. Optimal congestion charges range from 5 to 39 cents per km depending on time and location. Road pricing would increase traffic speed by 11 percent within the city center and lead to an annual welfare gain of ¥1.5 billion from reduced congestion and revenue of ¥10.5 billion. (JEL H23, O18, P25, R41, R48)


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