Berrigan, David; Hipp, J. Aaron; Hurvitz, Philip M.; James, Peter; Jankowska, Marta M.; Kerr, Jacqueline; Laden, Francine; Leonard, Tammy; Mckinnon, Robin A.; Powell-wiley, Tiffany M.; Tarlov, Elizabeth; Zenk, Shannon N.; The Trec Spatial And Contextual Measures And Modeling Work Group. (2015). Geospatial and Contextual Approaches to Energy Balance and Health. Annals Of Gis, 21(2), 157 – 168.
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Abstract
In the past 15 years, a major research enterprise has emerged that is aimed at understanding associations between geographic and contextual features of the environment (especially the built environment) and elements of human energy balance, including diet, weight and physical activity. Here we highlight aspects of this research area with a particular focus on research and opportunities in the United States as an example. We address four main areas: (1) the importance of valid and comparable data concerning behaviour across geographies; (2) the ongoing need to identify and explore new environmental variables; (3) the challenge of identifying the causally relevant context; and (4) the pressing need for stronger study designs and analytical methods. Additionally, we discuss existing sources of geo-referenced health data which might be exploited by interdisciplinary research teams, personnel challenges and some aspects of funding for geospatial research by the US National Institutes of Health in the past decade, including funding for international collaboration and training opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]; Copyright of Annals of GIS is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Keywords
Bioenergetics; Geospatial Data; Contextual Analysis; Physical Activity; Obesity; Contextual; Energy Balance; Geospatial; Spatial
Bae, Chang-hee Christine; Sinha, Debmalya. (2016). Measuring Pedestrian Exposure to PM-2.5: Case of the Seattle, Washington, International District. Transportation Research Record, 2570, 139 – 147.
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Abstract
Traffic-related air pollution is dangerous to human health. Although transportation and land use planning policies often focus on making walking more attractive, there is a lack of research on pedestrian exposure to air pollution levels. This research focused on pedestrian exposure to particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 mu m or less (PM-2.5) in the International District (ID) adjacent to downtown Seattle, Washington. Several types of equipment were used: (a) a portable nephelometer (Radiance Research M903) mounted on a backpack (arranged by the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency); (b) an AirCasting mobile application (by Habitmap) in a cell phone to record the researcher's location and exposure levels while walking; and (c) a GoPro Hero camera to record visual images of the surrounding built environment, traffic volume, and other activities. The field data were collected three times a day (morning, midday, and evening) for one week in winter (December 31, 2014-January 9, 2015) and one week in spring (March 21-30, 2015) on selected routes in the ID. The study found seasonal and time-of-day variability of exposure levels: there were higher PM-2.5 concentration levels during the winter (57.77 mu g/m(3)) than in the spring (6.99 mu g/m(3)), and higher levels in the morning (25 mu g/m(3)) than in the evening (17 mu g/m(3)). Also, the average PM-2.5 levels of ID data were slightly higher (20.7 mu g/m(3)) than those at the nearest U.S. Environmental Protection Agency monitoring station (19.0 mu g/m(3)). The researchers concluded that the key contributors of pedestrian exposure to air pollution are traffic, construction activities, and smokers on sidewalks.
Keywords
Particulate Air-pollution; Long-term Exposure; Particle Number; Fine; Quality; Health; Pm2.5; Risk; Road
McPhearson, Timon; Pickett, Steward T. A.; Grimm, Nancy B.; Niemela, Jari; Alberti, Marina; Elmqvist, Thomas; Weber, Christiane; Haase, Dagmar; Breuste, Juergen; Qureshi, Salman. (2016). Advancing Urban Ecology toward a Science of Cities. Bioscience, 66(3), 198 – 212.
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Abstract
Urban ecology is a field encompassing multiple disciplines and practical applications and has grown rapidly. However, the field is heterogeneous as a global inquiry with multiple theoretical and conceptual frameworks, variable research approaches, and a lack of coordination among multiple schools of thought and research foci. Here, we present an international consensus on how urban ecology can advance along multiple research directions. There is potential for the field to mature as a holistic, integrated science of urban systems. Such an integrated science could better inform decisionmakers who need increased understanding of complex relationships among social, ecological, economic, and built infrastructure systems. To advance the field requires conceptual synthesis, knowledge and data sharing; cross-city comparative research, new intellectual networks, and engagement with additional disciplines. We consider challenges and opportunities for understanding dynamics of urban systems. We suggest pathways for advancing urban ecology research to support the goals of improving urban sustainability and resilience, conserving urban biodiversity, and promoting human well-being on an urbanizing planet.
Keywords
Urban Ecology (biology); Urban Biodiversity; Urbanization & The Environment; Life Sciences; Medical Sciences; Comparative Research; Complexity; Conceptual Frameworks; Urban Ecology; Urban Systems; Ecosystem Services; Green Spaces; Resilience; Framework; Systems; Design; Water; Tree
Brody, Samuel D.; Highfield, Wesley E.; Wilson, Morgan; Lindell, Michael K.; Blessing, Russell. (2017). Understanding the Motivations of Coastal Residents to Voluntarily Purchase Federal Flood Insurance. Journal Of Risk Research, 20(6), 760 – 775.
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Abstract
Federally-backed flood insurance is the primary mechanism by which residents in the United States (US) prepare for and recover from floods. While there is a growing literature on the general uptake of flood insurance, little work has been done to address the factors motivating residents to voluntarily buy and maintain federally-based insurance policies. We address this issue by conducting a survey of coastal residents in four localities in Texas and Florida. Based on survey responses, we quantitatively examine the factors influencing whether residents located outside of the 100-year floodplain obtain insurance policies when it is not required. Using two-sample t-tests and binary logistic regression analysis to control for multiple contextual and psychological variables, we statistically isolate the factors contributing most to the decision to purchase insurance. Our findings indicate that a resident located outside the 100-year floodplain who has voluntarily purchased federal flood insurance can be characterized, on average, as more highly educated, living in relatively expensive homes, and a long-time resident who thinks about flood hazard relatively infrequently but who, nonetheless, thinks flood insurance is relatively affordable. Unexpectedly, the physical proximity of a respondent to flood hazard areas makes little or no discernible difference in the decision to obtain flood insurance.
Keywords
Action Decision-model; Hazard Adjustments; Risk; Perceptions; Adoption; Florida; Losses; Determinants; Preferences; Responses; Insurance; Floodplain; Purchase Decision; Texas
Purcell, Mark; Born, Branden. (2017). Planning in the Spirit of Deleuze and Guattari? Considering Community-Based Food Projects in the United States and Mexico. Urban Geography, 38(4), 521 – 536.
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Abstract
In this article we argue that planning theory and practice should engage more with the normative political vision of Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari. They reject the transcendent authority of the State and arguably by extension, planning. As planners we should be concerned: need we reconceptualize, or abandon the planning project? We outline their vision, highlighting key concepts including lines of flight, revolution, the new land, and immanent organization, and use two cases from the United States and Mexico, the Food Commons and Center for Integral Farmer Development in the Mixteca, to show that planning in accordance with Deleuze and Guattari may indeed be possible. We end with questions: is what we describe planning? And what is planning - or what should it be?
Keywords
Deleuze And Guattari; Planning Theory; Mexico; Food Systems
Liu, Qian; Chen, Peng; Sun, Feiyang. (2018). Parking Policies in China’s Metropolises: Rationales, Consequences, and Implications. Urban Policy & Research, 36(2), 186 – 200.
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Abstract
Metropolises in China, a rapidly motorizing nation, are confronted with the challenge of managing parking pressures. Given the generally increased affordability of cars, most local authorities are making efforts to provide more parking spaces to accommodate additional cars. Although the worldwide paradigm of managing parking is shifting from a supply-focused approach to a restraint mind-set, China has been slow to follow this trend. To untangle the factors that contribute to delays implementing desirable parking policy reforms, this paper examines the development of parking policies in China. This paper characterizes the challenge of parking in Chinese cities as a spatio-temporal mismatch. In the context of rapid motorization, local authorities are subject to political pressure to cater to the increased parking demand by increasing the minimum parking requirements. However, this approach fails to mitigate parking shortages and results in unintended consequences, including relatively high parking density in central and transit-rich areas and imbalanced parking across neighbourhoods. This paper suggests four strategies, including market-based pricing, geographically differentiated supply regulations, and district-based parking management (Parking management is referred to as various policies and programs that result in more efficient use of parking resources). These strategies represent policy-reform targets to establish more efficient parking systems in rapidly motorizing urban settings worldwide.
Keywords
Parking Facilities; Urbanization; Parking Lots; China; Minimum Parking Requirements; Motorization; Parking Policies; Parking Supply; Spatio-temporal Mismatch; Requirements; Minimum; Ownership; Future; Transportation; Cities; Pressure; Neighborhoods; Affordability; Local Authorities; Shortages; Regulation; Developmental Delays; Density; Parking; Reforms
Jon, Ihnji; Huang, Shih-Kai; Lindell, Michael K. (2019). Perceptions and Expected Immediate Reactions to Severe Storm Displays. Risk Analysis, 39(1), 274 – 290.
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Abstract
The National Weather Service has adopted warning polygons that more specifically indicate the risk area than its previous county-wide warnings. However, these polygons are not defined in terms of numerical strike probabilities (p(s)). To better understand people's interpretations of warning polygons, 167 participants were shown 23 hypothetical scenarios in one of three information conditions-polygon-only (Condition A), polygon + tornadic storm cell (Condition B), and polygon + tornadic storm cell + flanking nontornadic storm cells (Condition C). Participants judged each polygon's p(s) and reported the likelihood of taking nine different response actions. The polygon-only condition replicated the results of previous studies; p(s) was highest at the polygon's centroid and declined in all directions from there. The two conditions displaying storm cells differed from the polygon-only condition only in having p(s) just as high at the polygon's edge nearest the storm cell as at its centroid. Overall, p(s) values were positively correlated with expectations of continuing normal activities, seeking information from social sources, seeking shelter, and evacuating by car. These results indicate that participants make more appropriate p(s) judgments when polygons are presented in their natural context of radar displays than when they are presented in isolation. However, the fact that p(s) judgments had moderately positive correlations with both sheltering (a generally appropriate response) and evacuation (a generally inappropriate response) suggests that experiment participants experience the same ambivalence about these two protective actions as people threatened by actual tornadoes.
Keywords
Decision-making; Tornado; Risk; Communication; Numeracy; Residents; Shelter; Events; Protective Actions; Risk Perceptions; Tornado Warning Polygons; Judgments; Tornadoes; Meteorological Services; Storms; Lymphocytes B; Polygons; Emergency Warning Programs; Evacuation; Displays; Inappropriateness; Weather; Warnings; Conditions; Ambivalence
Wang, Kaiwen; Liu, Xiaomang; Liu, Changming; Yang, Xiaohua; Bai, Peng; Li, Yuqi; Pan, Zharong. (2019). The Unignorable Impacts of Pan Wall on Pan Evaporation Dynamics. Agricultural & Forest Meteorology, 274, 42 – 50.
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Abstract
Open water evaporation (E-ow), such as evaporation of lake and reservoir, is typically estimated by observations of different pans. The observation networks of pan evaporation (E-pan) were established and maintained worldwide for a long history. All the pans in the world consist of water body and pan wall, which includes side wall, pan rim and (if any) pan bottom. Since the pan wall will affect E-pan by radiation absorption and heat conduction, once pan wall absorbs and conducts more heat for vaporizing than water body in a pan, observed E-pan dynamics will greatly deviate E-ow causing uncertainties and errors in estimating E-ow. Thus, this study calculated E-pan at 767 meteorological stations in China and quantified the contributions of water body and pan wall on E-pan trends. For China as a whole, E-pan decreased at -3.75 mm/a(2) and increased at 3.68 mm/a(2) during 1960-1993 and 1993-2016, respectively. 84% of E-pan trends were contributed by water body. For 767 stations, E-pan trends of 84 and 96 stations were dominated by pan wall during 1960-1993 and 1993-2016, respectively. Since pan wall contributed more than half of E-pan trends for (similar to)23% of the stations in China, the impacts of pan wall on E-pan dynamics cannot be ignored.
Keywords
Heat Radiation & Absorption; Heat Conduction; Meteorological Stations; Bodies Of Water; Dynamics; Water Diversion; China; Pan Evaporation Dynamics; Pan Wall; Radiation Absorption And Heat Conduction; Trends; Sensitivity; Demand; Model; Absorption; Evaporation; Heat Transfer; Lakes; Surface Water; Uncertainty
Kuriyama, Naoko; Maly, Elizabeth; Leon, Jorge; Abramson, Daniel; Nguyen, Lan T.; Bostrom, Ann. (2020). Towards a Comparative Framework of Adaptive Planning and Anticipatory Action Regimes in Chile, Japan, and the US: An Exploration of Multiple Contexts Informing Tsunami Risk-based Planning and Relocation. Journal Of Disaster Research, 15(7), 878 – 889.
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Abstract
Coastal regions around the Pacific Ring of Fire share the risk of massive earthquakes and tsunamis. Along with their own political-economic, cultural and biophysical contexts, each region has their own history and experiences of tsunami disasters. Coastal areas of Washington State in the U.S. are currently at risk of experiencing a tsunami following a massive Magnitude 9 (M9) earthquake anticipated in the Cascadia Subduction Zone (CSZ). Looking ahead to consider adaptive planning in advance of a tsunami following this M9 event, this paper explores how lessons from recent megaquake- and tsunami-related experiences of risk-based planning and relocation in coastal areas of Japan and Chile could inform anticipatory action in coastal Washington State. Based on a comparison of earthquake and tsunami hazards, social factors, and the roles of government, this paper outlines a framework to compare policy contexts of tsunami risk-based planning and relocation in three Ring of Fire countries, including factors shaping the possible transfer of approaches between them. Findings suggest some aspects of comparative significance and commonalities shared across coastal communities in the three countries and at the same time highlight numerous differences in governance and policies related to planning and relocation. Although there are limitations to the transferability of lessons in disaster adaptive planning and anticipatory action from one national/regional context to another, we believe there is much more that Washington and the Pacific Northwest can learn from Japanese and Chilean experiences. In any context, risk reduction policies and actions need to garner political support in order to be implemented. Additional case study research and detailed analysis is still needed to understand specific lessons that may be applied to detailed risk-based planning and relocation programs across these different national contexts.
Keywords
Great Earthquake Recurrence; Land-use; Statistical-analyses; Subduction Zone; New-zealand; Community; Recovery; Management; Cascadia; Policies; Risk-based Planning; Earthquake; Tsunami; Disaster Governance; Residential Relocation
Chalana, Manish. (2021). Whither the “Hindoo Invasion”? South Asians in the Pacific Northwest of the United States, 1907-1930. International Journal Of Regional & Local History, 16(1), 14 – 38.
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Abstract
The first decade of the twentieth century saw several thousand men migrate from India to the North American West Coast. While most settled in British Columbia or California, a smaller number moved to the US Pacific Northwest states of Washington and Oregon. A series of violent riots in 1907-8 drove many from the region. The basic contours of this population in the region after this time remain unclear. I uncover evidence that Indians persisted for a longer time period, and in more varied locations and occupations than some previous research suggests, but that ultimately violent exclusion led them to disappear almost entirely from the region. I investigate the conditions in which these men lived and toiled, and the ways in which they were viewed by the larger society, particularly in terms of evolving concepts of race and assimilation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]; Copyright of International Journal of Regional & Local History is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Keywords
Immigration; Indians; Oregon; Pacific Northwest; Punjabis; Sikh; South Asians; Washington