The Worst of All Worlds

Author(s):  
Eric Eidlin

Los Angeles, California, is generally considered the archetypal sprawling metropolis. Yet traditional measures equate sprawl with low population density, and Los Angeles is among the densest and thereby the least sprawling cities in the United States. How can this apparent paradox be explained? This paper argues that the answer lies in the fact that Los Angeles exhibits a comparatively even distribution of population throughout its urbanized area. As a result, the city suffers from many consequences of high population density, including extreme traffic congestion, poor air quality, and high housing prices, while offering its residents few benefits that typically accompany this density, including fast and effective public transit, vibrant street life, and tightly knit urban neighborhoods. The city's unique combination of high average population density with little differentiation in the distribution of population might best be characterized as dense sprawl, a condition that embodies the worst of urban and suburban worlds. This paper uses Gini coefficients to illustrate variation in population density and then considers a number of indicators–-most relating either to the provision of transportation infrastructure or to travel behavior–-that demonstrate the effects of low-variation population distribution on the quality of urban life in Los Angeles. This approach offers researchers, practitioners, and policy makers in Los Angeles and in smaller cities that are evolving in similar ways a useful and user-friendly tool for identifying, explaining, measuring, and addressing the most problematic aspects of sprawl.

Urban Studies ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 54 (15) ◽  
pp. 3423-3445 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuting Hou

This study mainly addresses two main questions: (1) whether traffic congestion negatively affects single-family house price by constraining accessibility to jobs; (2) whether congestion effects and accessibility effects vary by income groups within a metropolitan area. This study uses a multilevel hedonic price model to estimate the marginal price of accessibility while controlling for other neighbourhood attributes and the correlation of proximal housing sales. The congestion effects are identified by comparing the implicit price of accessibility between congested-flow and free-flow. The results show that the accessibility measured with congested time yields higher marginal price, suggesting that households are willing to pay more to avoid locations with high congestion delays and accessibility loss. The results also suggest that accessibility effects are more valued by homebuyers in middle-income neighbourhoods, compared with those in the lowest or highest income neighbourhoods.


2000 ◽  
Vol 1703 (1) ◽  
pp. 98-104
Author(s):  
Douglas M. Mansel ◽  
Peter B. Mandle

In many regions, satellite (i.e., remote, off-airport) terminals that provide baggage check-in and baggage claim would provide several advantages to air travelers, including the ability to avoid parking at the airport or asking a relative or friend to drive to the airport, once to drop off and once to pick up the passengers; congested airline ticket counters and long lines at the skycap podiums; and traffic congestion on the way to the airport and at the airport curbsides. In some regions, such as Boston and Los Angeles, the benefits of satellite terminals have already been demonstrated, even though these terminals currently do not provide baggage check-in or baggage claim. In the United States, satellite terminals that provide baggage check-in and baggage claim serve only passengers traveling on a single airline or a distinct group of airline passengers (e.g., only passengers disembarking a cruise ship). However, baggage check-in and baggage claim for the general public is provided at several satellite terminals that serve overseas airports. The two most significant challenges to be overcome are satisfying FAA security requirements and justifying to airlines that the benefits of providing baggage check-in and baggage claim at a satellite terminal outweigh the associated costs.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesca Benedetti ◽  
Maria Pachetti ◽  
Bruna Marini ◽  
Rudy Ippodrino ◽  
Robert C. Gallo ◽  
...  

Abstract Background With the aim of providing a dynamic evaluation of the effects of basic environmental parameters on COVID-19-related death rate, we assessed the correlation between average monthly high temperatures and population density, with death/rate (monthly number of deaths/1M people) for the months of March (start of the analysis and beginning of local epidemic in most of the Western World, except in Italy where it started in February) and April 2020 (continuation of the epidemic). Different geographical areas of the Northern Hemisphere in the United States and in Europe were selected in order to provide a wide range among the different parameters. The death rates were gathered from an available dataset. As a further control, we also included latitude, as a proxy for temperature.Methods Utilizing a publicly available dataset, we retrieved data for the months of March and April 2020 for 25 areas in Europe and in the US. We computed the monthly number of deaths/1M people of confirmed COVID-19 cases and calculated the average monthly high temperatures and population density for all these areas. We determined the correlation between number of deaths/1M people and the average monthly high temperatures, the latitude and the population density. Results We divided our analysis in two parts: analysis of the correlation among the different variables in the month of March and subsequent analysis in the month of April. The differences were then evaluated. In the month of March there was no statistical correlation between average monthly high temperatures of the considered geographical areas and number of deaths/1M people. However, a statistically significant inverse correlation became significant in the month of April between average monthly high temperatures (p=0.0043) and latitude (p=0.0253) with number of deaths/1M people. We also observed a statistically significant correlation between population density and number of deaths/1M people both in the month of March (p=0.0297) and in the month of April (p=0.0116), when three areas extremely populated (NYC, Los Angeles and Washington DC) were included in the calculation. Once these three areas were removed, the correlation was not statistically significant (p=0.1695 in the month of March, and p=0.7076 in the month of April). Conclusions The number of COVID-19-related deaths/1M people was essentially the same during the month of March for all the geographical areas considered, indicating essentially that the infection was circulating quite uniformly except for Lombardy, Italy, where it started earlier. Lockdown measures were implemented between the end of March and beginning of April, except for Italy which started March 9th. We observed a strong, statistically significant inverse correlation between average monthly high temperatures with the number of deaths/1M people. We confirmed the data by analyzing the correlation with the latitude, which can be considered a proxy for high temperature. Previous studies indicated a negative effect of high climate temperatures on Sars-COV-2 spreading. Our data indicate that social distancing measure are more successful in the presence of higher average monthly temperatures in reducing COVID-19-related death rate, and a high level of population density seems to negatively impact the effect of lockdown measures.


2016 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 275-293
Author(s):  
Anne E. Brown ◽  
Brian D. Taylor ◽  
Martin Wachs

One of the most heavily traveled freeways in the United States closed for construction over weekends in 2011 and 2012. Some public officials publicized the closures by appealing to civic pride whereas others threatened nightmarish delays they dubbed “Carmageddon.” In 2011, contrary to many media predictions, traffic flowed freely at volumes far below normal levels. Our analysis finds that travelers did not switch routes, modes, or trip timing, but instead forewent thousands of trips. Travel behavior changes were far more modest and mixed during the second closure in 2012. Although the lack of traffic problems surprised many public officials, we find traveler responses to both events congruent with past research. Traveler responses to the first event were more dramatic but short-lived, while more modest but durable responses to the second event suggest that travelers learned from, and were perhaps jaded by, the histrionics surrounding the first closure.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesca Benedetti ◽  
Maria Pachetti ◽  
Bruna Marini ◽  
Rudy Ippodrino ◽  
Robert C. Gallo ◽  
...  

Abstract Background With the aim of providing a dynamic evaluation of the effects of basic environmental parameters on COVID-19-related death rate, we assessed the correlation between average monthly high temperatures and population density, with death/rate (monthly number of deaths/1M people) for the months of March (start of the analysis and beginning of local epidemic in most of the Western World, except in Italy where it started in February) and April 2020 (continuation of the epidemic). Different geographical areas of the Northern Hemisphere in the United States and in Europe were selected in order to provide a wide range among the different parameters. The death rates were gathered from an available dataset. As a further control, we also included latitude, as a proxy for temperature. Methods Utilizing a publicly available dataset, we retrieved data for the months of March and April 2020 for 25 areas in Europe and in the US. We computed the monthly number of deaths/1M people of confirmed COVID-19 cases and calculated the average monthly high temperatures and population density for all these areas. We determined the correlation between number of deaths/1M people and the average monthly high temperatures, the latitude and the population density. Results We divided our analysis in two parts: analysis of the correlation among the different variables in the month of March and subsequent analysis in the month of April. The differences were then evaluated). In the month of March there was no statistical correlation between average monthly high temperatures of the considered geographical areas and number of deaths/1M people. However, a statistically significant inverse correlation became significative in the month of April between average monthly high temperatures (p=0.0104) and latitude (p=0.0119) with number of deaths/1M people. We also observed a statistically significative correlation between population density and number of deaths/1M people only in the month of April, when three areas extremely populated (NYC, Los Angeles and Washington DC) were included in the calculation. Once these three areas were removed, the correlation was not statistically significant (p=0.682). Conclusions The number of COVID-19-related deaths/1M people was essentially the same during the month of March for all the geographical areas considered, indicating essentially that the infection was circulating quite uniformly except for Lombardy, Italy, where it started earlier. Lockdown measures were implemented between the end of March and beginning of April, except for Italy which started March 9 th . We observed a strong, statistically significant inverse correlation between average monthly high temperatures with the number of deaths/1M people. We confirmed the data by analyzing the correlation with the latitude, which can be considered a proxy for high temperature. Previous studies indicated a negative effect of high climate temperatures on Sars-COV-2 spreading. Our data indicate that social distancing measure are more successful in the presence of higher daily average temperatures in reducing COVID-19-related death rate, and a high level of population density seems to negatively impact the effect of lockdown measures.


Entropy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (11) ◽  
pp. 1512
Author(s):  
Fernando T. Lima ◽  
Nathan C. Brown ◽  
José P. Duarte

The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is an unprecedented global event that has been challenging governments, health systems, and communities worldwide. Available data from the first months indicated varying patterns of the spread of COVID-19 within American cities, when the spread was faster in high-density and walkable cities such as New York than in low-density and car-oriented cities such as Los Angeles. Subsequent containment efforts, underlying population characteristics, variants, and other factors likely affected the spread significantly. However, this work investigates the hypothesis that urban configuration and associated spatial use patterns directly impact how the disease spreads and infects a population. It follows work that has shown how the spatial configuration of urban spaces impacts the social behavior of people moving through those spaces. It addresses the first 60 days of contagion (before containment measures were widely adopted and had time to affect spread) in 93 urban counties in the United States, considering population size, population density, walkability, here evaluated through walkscore, an indicator that measures the density of amenities, and, therefore, opportunities for population mixing, and the number of confirmed cases and deaths. Our findings indicate correlations between walkability, population density, and COVID-19 spreading patterns but no clear correlation between population size and the number of cases or deaths per 100 k habitants. Although virus spread beyond these initial cases may provide additional data for analysis, this study is an initial step in understanding the relationship between COVID-19 and urban configuration.


1970 ◽  
Vol 09 (02) ◽  
pp. 75-80
Author(s):  
B. G. Lamson ◽  
W. S. Russell ◽  
J. Fullmore ◽  
W. E. Nix

Total information and communication systems within hospitals have been designed, but successful complete implementation, to date, has not been achieved. Limited applications with both patient medical data, notably in the clinical laboratories, and in the hospital accounting offices have been numerous. Although total programs are not yet a reality, it is apparent that the computer will serve ultimately many communication requirements, both medical and financial, within the hospital.Sound hospital management requires that costs of all component operations be known in order that value judgments concerning worth and efficiency may be made. Accrual accounting systems which match revenue and expense over the same time period are a prerequisite. Cash and modified cash hospital accounting cannot provide current reliable data for sound decision making.Costs of hospital operations cannot be evaluated unless related to the characteristics of the patient service load. Average per diem costs mean little except when large similar populations of patients are being compared. A modern hospital accrual accounting system should be able to provide information concerning the costs of caring for specific diseases in patients with known age and sex and disease severity characteristics. Without information of this type, it will not be possible to objectively evaluate alternative systems of financing and organizing patient care.Medical record management offers the promise of prospective use of patient disease information in the planning and scheduling of facilities. The prose content of medical record summaries, such as diagnostic statements in tissue pathology, radiology, and admission and discharge diagnoses, may be susceptible to non-coded, full prose input into computer controlled diagnostic files. Thesauri in the several medical specialties will be necessary for this achievement.There is little immediate prospect for complete hospital communication systems that can be made available as a package to any hospital without substantial local alteration. Pilot projects in teaching centers should be viewed for the time being as opportunities to define objectives, evaluate feasibility, and determine degree of risk and expense.A brief survey of applications in the United States which have been successfully implemented or which appear suitable for successful implementation is recorded.Eleven general principles which have been associated with successful implementation of computer applications within the UCLA Hospital are enumerated.


2003 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 44-51
Author(s):  
Kristine Brown ◽  
James Sturges

With the continued influx of Mexican immigrants to the United States, especially to Southern California, health concerns and needs have increased among this population over the last several years. California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona) obtained a federal grant that provided resources to establish the Community Outreach Partnership Center (COPC). COPC consists of comprehensive efforts to improve the overall well-being of the Angela Chanslor area within the City of Pomona in East Los Angeles. Focus areas of the project include 1) Education and Integrated Services, 2) Community Planning and Capacity Building for Neighborhood Revitalization and Safety, and 3) Job Development and Training. The focus of this paper is health promotion activities within Education and Integrated Services. The primary objective of this portion of the program was to provide residents with physical examinations and health screenings, health education, and medical and social service referrals. Topics discussed are the target community, general overview of COPC, Family Services Information and Referral Program (i.e. health promotion program within Education and Integrated Services), program impact and results, and suggestions for continued implementation and future efforts. / Con la influencia continua de inmigrantes Mexicanos a los Estados Unidos, especialmente al sur de California, ciertas necesidades con respecto a la salud han incrementado en esta poblacion en los ultimos anos. California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona). Obtuvo ayuda Federal para establecer El Community Outreach Partnership Center (COPC). El centro COPC consiste de esfuerzos conprensivos para mejorar el bienestar del area Angela Chanslor que esta ubicado en la Ciudad de Pomona en la parte Este de Los Angeles. Las partes enfocadas del proyecto incluyen, 1) Educacion y servicios Integrados, 2) Plan para la Comunidad y un Edificio de Capacitacion para la comunidad que dara revitalizacion y seguridad, 3) Y habrira trabajos y entrenamientos. El enfoque de este proyecto es de actividades en Promocion de Salud aliadas con educacion y Servicios Integrados. El objetivo principal de esta porcion del programa era de proveer a los residentes con examinaciones fisicas, educacion para la salud, y eran referidas a servicios medicos y sociales. Los topicos que son tratados son: La comunidad que sera ayudada, El enfoque general de COPC, informacion del programa para referir a servicios familiares, el impacto del programa y resultados, y sugerencias para implementar futuros esfuerzos.


2020 ◽  
pp. 133-158
Author(s):  
K. A. Kholodilin ◽  
Y. I. Yanzhimaeva

A relative uniformity of population distribution on the territory of the country is of importance from socio-economic and strategic perspectives. It is especially important in the case of Russia with its densely populated West and underpopulated East. This paper considers changes in population density in Russian regions, which occurred between 1897 and 2017. It explores whether there was convergence in population density and what factors influenced it. For this purpose, it uses the data both at county and regional levels, which are brought to common borders for comparability purposes. Further, the models of unconditional and conditional β-convergence are estimated, taking into account the spatial dependence. The paper concludes that the population density equalization took place in 1897-2017 at the county level and in 1926—1970 at the regional level. In addition, the population density increase is shown to be influenced not only by spatial effects, but also by political and geographical factors such as climate, number of GULAG camps, and the distance from the capital city.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 45-54
Author(s):  
Samuel H. Yamashita

In the 1970s, Japanese cooks began to appear in the kitchens of nouvelle cuisine chefs in France for further training, with scores more arriving in the next decades. Paul Bocuse, Alain Chapel, Joël Robuchon, and other leading French chefs started visiting Japan to teach, cook, and sample Japanese cuisine, and ten of them eventually opened restaurants there. In the 1980s and 1990s, these chefs' frequent visits to Japan and the steady flow of Japanese stagiaires to French restaurants in Europe and the United States encouraged a series of changes that I am calling the “Japanese turn,” which found chefs at fine-dining establishments in Los Angeles, New York City, and later the San Francisco Bay Area using an ever-widening array of Japanese ingredients, employing Japanese culinary techniques, and adding Japanese dishes to their menus. By the second decade of the twenty-first century, the wide acceptance of not only Japanese ingredients and techniques but also concepts like umami (savory tastiness) and shun (seasonality) suggest that Japanese cuisine is now well known to many American chefs.


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