Philip Stoker

Pedestrian Safety and the Built Environment : A Review of the Risk Factors

Urban and regional planning has a contribution to make toward improving pedestrian safety, particularly in view of the fact that about 273,000 pedestrians were killed in road traffic crashes in 2010. The road is a built environments that should enhance safety and security for pedestrians, but this ideal is not always the case. This article presents an overview of the evidence on the risks that pedestrians face in the built environment. This article shows that design of the roadway and development of different land uses can either increase or reduce pedestrian road traffic injury. Planners need to design or modify the built environment to minimize risk for pedestrians.

iSAW: Integrating Structure, Actors, and Water to Study Socio-Hydro-Ecological Systems

Urbanization, climate, and ecosystem change represent major challenges for managing water resources. Although water systems are complex, a need exists for a generalized representation of these systems to identify important components and linkages to guide scientific inquiry and aid water management. We developed an integrated Structure-Actor-Water framework (iSAW) to facilitate the understanding of and transitions to sustainable water systems. Our goal was to produce an interdisciplinary framework for water resources research that could address management challenges across scales (e.g., plot to region) and domains (e.g., water supply and quality, transitioning, and urban landscapes). The framework was designed to be generalizable across all human–environment systems, yet with sufficient detail and flexibility to be customized to specific cases. iSAW includes three major components: structure (natural, built, and social), actors (individual and organizational), and water (quality and quantity). Key linkages among these components include: (1) ecological/hydrologic processes, (2) ecosystem/geomorphic feedbacks, (3) planning, design, and policy, (4) perceptions, information, and experience, (5) resource access and risk, and (6) operational water use and management. We illustrate the flexibility and utility of the iSAW framework by applying it to two research and management problems: understanding urban water supply and demand in a changing climate and expanding use of green storm water infrastructure in a semi-arid environment. The applications demonstrate that a generalized conceptual model can identify important components and linkages in complex and diverse water systems and facilitate communication about those systems among researchers from diverse disciplines.

Job–Worker Balance and Income Match in the United States

This study uses journey-to-work data from urban census tracts across the United States to investigate whether people living and working in the same area is related to job–worker balance or to the income from jobs. The results indicate that more people live and work in the same commute shed if there is job–worker balance and income matching.

Comparing the utility of LiDAR data vs. multi-spectral imagery for parcel scale water demand modeling

Abstract In this paper we examine whether land-cover measures derived from multi-spectral (MS) imagery in combination with light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data sources better predict parcel scale urban water consumption than measures derived solely from MS imagery. Land-cover measures such as the percentage of impervious surface and vegetative cover are important predictors of household level water use. This study found that the additional effort required to obtain LiDAR data does not appear to add predictive power for water demand modeling. We suggest that MS imagery is just as useful estimating household level water demand.

Determinants of single family residential water use across scales in four western US cities

A growing body of literature examines urban water sustainability with increasing evidence that locally-based physical and social spatial interactions contribute to water use. These studies however are based on single-city analysis and often fail to consider whether these interactions occur more generally. We examine a multi-city comparison using a common set of spatially-explicit water, socioeconomic, and biophysical data. We investigate the relative importance of variables for explaining the variations of single family residential (SFR) water uses at Census Block Group (CBG) and Census Tract (CT) scales in four representative western US cities - Austin, Phoenix, Portland, and Salt Lake City, - which cover a wide range of climate and development density. We used both ordinary least squares regression and spatial error regression models to identify the influence of spatial dependence on water use patterns. Our results show that older downtown areas show lower water use than newer suburban areas in all four cities. Tax assessed value and building age are the main determinants of SFR water use across the four cities regardless of the scale. Impervious surface area becomes an important variable for summer water use in all cities, and it is important in all seasons for arid environments such as Phoenix. CT level analysis shows better model predictability than CBG analysis. In all cities, seasons, and spatial scales, spatial error regression models better explain the variations of SFR water use. Such a spatially-varying relationship of urban water consumption provides additional evidence for the need to integrate urban land use planning and municipal water planning.

Pedestrian Safety and Public Health

Abstract Pedestrian injuries and deaths should be viewed as a critical public health issue. The purpose of this chapter is to show how incorporating safety from traffic into broader efforts to increase walking and physical activity has the potential to have a significant health impact. In this chapter we provide an overview of pedestrian safety considerations having to do with population health and the built environment. The chapter is organised around a conceptual framework that highlights the multiple pathways through which safe walking environments can contribute to improved population health. We review the existing literature on pedestrian safety and public health. Pedestrian safety will remain a vexing challenge for public health and transportation professionals in the coming decades. But addressing this problem on multiple fronts and across multiple sectors is necessary to reduce injuries and fatalities and to unleash the full potential of walking to improve population health through increased physical activity. This chapter uniquely contributes a conceptual framework for understanding the relationship between the walking environment and public health.

Compact development as a factor in income resilience among shrinking counties in the United States: Statistical analysis with policy implications

1. Introduction Harry W. Richardson and Chang Woon Nam Part I: Global and Regional Issues 2. International Shrinking Cities: Analysis, classification and prospects Wendell Cox 3.Shrinking Cities in Latin America: An oxymoron? Ivonne Audirac 4. Urban Shrinkage in the EU Gert-Jan Hospers Part II: National Issues 5. Shrinking Cities: The United States Richard Morrill 6.The Landscape of Population Decline in the United States: Considering the roles of the demographic components of change and geography Rachel Franklin 7. Are Large German Cities Really Shrinking? Demographic and economic development in recent years Florian Bartholomae and Chang Woon Nam 8. Urban Shrinkage in Romania: Scope and determinants Alina M. Schoenberg and Daniela Luminita Constantin 9. Shrinking Cities and Processes in Estonia Peter Friedrich, Aivo Ulper and Kadri Ukrainski 10. Shrinking Cities in South Korea: The future Harry W. Richardson and Chang-Hee Christine Bae 11.When Growth Grinds to a Halt: Population and economic development of resource-depleted cities in China Sylvia Ying He 12.India Sukumar Ganapati 13. Are Cities in Taiwan Shrinking? Michael Cheng-Yi Lin Part III: Case Study Cities 14. Driving Shrinking Detroit George Galster 15. Planning for Regional Depopulation in Greater Buffalo Justin Hollander and Bernard Cahill 16. Innovation and Shrinking Cities: What can we learn from Clevelands regional innovation system? Michael S. Fogarty and Gasper A. Garofalo 17. Halle: A shrinking city in Eastern Germany Florian Bartholomae and Chang Woon Nam 18. The Urban Area of Naples: From shrinking city to the metropolitan area Gerardo Schettino 19. Losing Households in a House Divided: The case of Belfast Frank Gaffikin and Ken Sterrett Part IV: General Issues 20. Compact Development as a Factor in Income Resilience among Shrinking Counties in the United States: Statistical analysis with policy implications Arthur C. Nelson, Susan Petheram and Reid Ewing 21. Environmental Impacts of Shrinking Cities Tilman Rave 22. Conclusions Harry W. Richardson and Chang Woon Nam