Wright, Olivia M.; Istanbulluoglu, Erkan; Horner, Richard R.; Degasperi, Curtis L.; Simmonds, Jim. (2018). Is There a Limit to Bioretention Effectiveness? Evaluation of Stormwater Bioretention Treatment Using a Lumped Urban Ecohydrologic Model and Ecologically Based Design Criteria. Hydrological Processes, 32(15), 2318 – 2334.
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Abstract
In this study, we developed the urban ecohydrology model (UEM) to investigate the role of bioretention on watershed water balance, runoff production, and streamflow variability. UEM partitions the land surface into pervious, impervious, and bioretention cell fractions. Soil moisture and vegetation dynamics are simulated in pervious areas and bioretention cells using a lumped ecohydrological approach. Bioretention cells receive runoff from a fraction of impervious areas. The model is calibrated in an urban headwater catchment near Seattle, WA, USA, using hourly weather data and streamflow observations for 3years. The calibrated model is first used to investigate the relationship between streamflow variability and bioretention cell size that receives runoff from different values of impervious area in the watershed. Streamflow variability is quantified by 2 indices, high pulse count (HPC), which quantifies the number of flow high pulses in a water year above a threshold, and high pulse range (HPR), which defines the time over which the pulses occurred. Low values of these indices are associated with improved stream health. The effectiveness of the modelled bioretention facilities are measured by their influence on reducing HPC and HPR and on flow duration curves in comparison with modelled fully forested conditions. We used UEM to examine the effectiveness of bioretention cells under rainfall regimes that are wetter and drier than the study area in an effort to understand linkages between the degree of urbanization, climate, and design bioretention cell size to improve inferred stream health conditions. In all model simulations, limits to the reduction of HPC and HPR indicators were reached as the size of bioretention cells grew. Bioretention was more effective as the rainfall regime gets drier. Results may guide bioretention design practices and future studies to explore climate change impacts on bioretention design and management.
Keywords
Performance Assessment; Hydrologic Alteration; Automated Techniques; Management-practices; Land-cover; Streams; Water; Impact; Area; Runoff; Bioretention; Ecohydrology; Green Infrastructure; Stormwater; Stream Health; Urban Hydrology; Evaluation; Urbanization; Watersheds; Soil Moisture; Water Balance; Stream Flow; Design; Variability; Ecological Monitoring; Computer Simulation; Storms; Climate Change; Duration; Water Runoff; Flow Duration Curves; Flow Duration; Cell Size; Soils; Duration Curves; Rainfall; Rivers; Cells; Headwaters; Surface Runoff; Dynamics; Rainfall Regime; Catchment Area; Design Criteria; Environmental Impact; Retention Basins; Soil Dynamics; Stream Discharge; Climatic Changes; Meteorological Data; Headwater Catchments
Duncan, Glen E.; Avery, Ally; Hurvitz, Philip M.; Moudon, Anne Vernez; Tsang, Siny; Turkheimer, Eric. (2019). Cohort Profile: Twins Study of Environment, Lifestyle Behaviours and Health. International Journal Of Epidemiology, 48(4), 1041.
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Keywords
Twin Studies; Neighborhoods; Native Americans; Normalized Difference Vegetation Index; Life Style; Twins; Body-mass Index; Physical-activity; Neighborhood Walkability; Waist Circumference; Built Environment; Causal Inference; Deprivation; Validation; Registry; Obesity
Moudon, Anne Vernez. (2019). Framing the Question: Is Shrinking Good or Bad? Journal Of Urban Design, 24(1), 66 – 68.
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Keywords
Urban Planning; Unemployment; Cost Of Living; Balance Of Trade; Medical Care; Economic Development; Demography; Decision Making; Framing
Tillyer, Marie Skubak; Walter, Rebecca J. (2019). Low-income Housing And Crime: The Influence Of Housing Development And Neighborhood Characteristics. Crime & Delinquency, 65(7), 969 – 993.
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Abstract
This study examines the distribution of crime across various types of low-income housing developments and estimates the main and interactive effects of housing development and neighborhood characteristics on crime. Negative binomial regression models were estimated to observe the influence of security and design features, neighborhood concentrated disadvantage, residential stability, and nearby nonresidential land use on crime at the housing developments. The findings suggest that low-income housing developments are not uniformly criminogenic, and both development characteristics and neighborhood conditions are relevant for understanding crime in low-income housing developments. Implications for prevention are discussed.
Keywords
Violent Crime; Micro Places; Guardianship; Criminology; Multilevel; Proximity; Patterns; Context; Trends; Impact; Low-income Housing; Criminal Opportunity; Concentrated Disadvantage
Baganz, Gösta; Proksch, Gundula; Kloas, Werner; Wolf Lorleberg; Baganz, Daniela; Staaks, Georg; Lohrberg, Frank. (2020). Site Resource Inventories – A Missing Link in the Circular City’s Information Flow. Advances In Geosciences, 54, 23-32.
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Abstract
A circular city builds upon the principles of circular economy, which key concepts of reduce, reuse, recycle, and recover lead to a coupling of resources: products and by-products of one production process become the input of another one, often in local vicinity. However, sources, types and available quantities of underutilised resources in cities are currently not well documented. Therefore, there is a missing link in the information flow of the circular city between potential users and site-specific data. To close this gap, this study introduces the concept of a site resource inventory in conjunction with a new information model that can manage the data needed for advancing the circular city. A core taxonomy of terms is established as the foundation for the information model: the circular economy is defined as a network of circular economy entities which are regarded as black boxes and connected by their material and energy inputs and outputs. This study proposes a site resource inventory, which is a collection of infrastructural and building-specific parameters that assess the suitability of urban sites for a specific circular economy entity. An information model is developed to manage the data that allows the entities to effectively organise the allocation and use of resources within the circular city and its material and energy flows. The application of this information model was demonstrated by comparing the demand and availability of required alternative resources (e.g. greywater) at a hypothetical site comprising a commercial aquaponic facility (synergistic coupling of fish and vegetables production) and a residential building. For the implementation of the information model a proposal is made which uses the publicly available geodata infrastructure of OpenStreetMap and adopts its tag system to operationalise the integration of circular economy data by introducing new tags. A site resource inventory has the potential to bring together information needs and it is thus intended to support companies when making their business location decisions or to support local authorities in the planning process.
Keywords
Digital Mapping; Economics; By Products; Aquaponics; Economic Conditions; Fish; Spatial Data; Consumers; Food; Infrastructure; Energy Flow; Greywater; Information Flow; Biogas; Consumption; Residential Buildings; Taxonomy; Data; Resources; Sustainable Development; Urban Areas; Cities; Coupling
Huang, M.; Simonen, K. (2020). Comparative Environmental Analysis of Seismic Damage in Buildings. Journal Of Structural Engineering, 146(2).
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Abstract
In studying the environmental impacts of buildings, earthquake hazards are rarely considered, but their environmental impacts can be significant. This case study paper demonstrates how the US Federal Emergency Management Agency's Performance Assessment Calculation Tool (PACT) can be used to analyze the environmental impacts of buildings using probabilistic seismic hazard assessment. PACT was used to evaluate 10 case study buildings that varied by five types of lateral systems and two risk categories. For each building, PACT generated 1,000 realizations at five earthquake intensities. The resulting environmental impacts were analyzed according to their distribution, median, and average values, and the differences among building component types, risk categories, and lateral force-resisting systems were explored. In this study, building components that were categorized under Exterior Enclosures, Interior Finishes, and Heating, Ventilation, and Air-Conditioning (HVAC) produced notably higher environmental impacts in response to seismic damage, and their vulnerability to displacement- or acceleration-induced damage could be attributed to the characteristics of the lateral systems. Although these observations are notable, they should not be taken as universally applicable to all buildings. Instead, these findings exemplify how the environmental impact results from PACT can be analyzed and interpreted to address both the seismic and environmental aspects of building design. (C) 2019 American Society of Civil Engineers.
Keywords
Impact
Muni, Kennedy; Kobusingye, Olive; Mock, Charles; Hughes, James P.; Hurvitz, Philip M.; Guthrie, Brandon. (2020). Motorcycle Taxi Programme Increases Safe Riding Behaviours Among Its Drivers In Kampala, Uganda. Injury Prevention, 26(1), 5 – 11.
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Abstract
Background SafeBoda is a motorcycle taxi company that provides road safety training and helmets to its drivers in Kampala, Uganda. We sought to determine whether SafeBoda drivers are more likely to engage in safe riding behaviours than regular drivers (motorcycle taxi drivers not part of SafeBoda). Methods We measured riding behaviours in SafeBoda and regular drivers through: (1) computer-assisted personal interview (CAPI), where 400 drivers were asked about their riding behaviours (eg, helmet and mobile phone use) and (2) roadside observation, where riding behaviours were observed in 3000 boda-boda drivers and their passengers along major roads in Kampala. Results Across the two cross-sectional studies, a higher proportion of SafeBoda drivers than regular drivers engaged in safe riding behaviours. For instance, helmet use among SafeBoda compared with regular drivers was 21% points higher (95% CI 0.15 to 0.27; p<0.001) based on the CAPI and 45% points higher (95% CI 0.43 to 0.47; p<0.001) based on roadside observation. Furthermore, compared with regular drivers, SafeBoda drivers were more likely to report having a driver's license (66.3% vs 33.5 %; p<0.001) and a reflective jacket (99.5% vs 50.5 %; p<0.001) and were less likely to report driving towards oncoming traffic (4% vs 45.7 %; p<0.001) in the past 30 days. Conclusion The SafeBoda programme is associated with increased safe riding behaviours among motorcycle taxi drivers in Kampala. Therefore, the promotion and expansion of such programmes may lead to a reduction in morbidity and mortality due to road injuries.
Keywords
Multiple-imputation; Helmet Use; Knowledge; Injuries; Riders
Altenberg Vaz, Nathan; Inanici, Mehlika. (2021). Syncing with the Sky: Daylight-Driven Circadian Lighting Design. Leukos, 17(3), 291 – 309.
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Abstract
The use of daylight in the built environment is often preferred to artificial light sources as its successful application can provide visual comfort and satisfaction along with the potential for significant energy savings. Exposure to daylight is also the primary source for stimulus that establishes a healthy day/night cycle in all living organisms. This is known as circadian rhythm. Newly discovered photoreceptors (intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells - ipRGC) within the mammalian eye, including humans, are specifically linked to the portion of the brain responsible for maintaining a healthy circadian rhythm. This discovery has led to a new subject area in the field of lighting design focused on controlling the spectrum of light that these photoreceptors are sensitive to. Currently, work in the field of circadian lighting design is concentrated on the use of artificial light sources for circadian stimulus. This is largely due to the advent of the widespread use of LED technology, which has proven that it can be a significant source of light that can delay or advance the circadian clock. The use of daylight to provide circadian stimulus has been a given in this field of design, however, there has not been very much research into how the built environment affects our ability to effectively receive this stimulus from daylight. In this research, the groundwork is established to start to create a set of guidelines to help architects and designers maximize the potential for daylight to provide circadian stimulus at the earliest stages of a project. This is accomplished through a series of lighting simulations that explore and test various architectural parameters that affect daylight-driven circadian lighting, with simultaneous consideration given to photopic lighting availability and visual comfort. The architectural parameters tested in this study included window head height, building orientation, shading devices, visual obstructions to the sky, and room depth. The results show that informed design decisions could maximize circadian potential in a given space, while achieving visually satisfactory luminous environments.
Keywords
Action Spectrum; Melanopsin; Environments; Sensitivity; Framework; Stimulus; Rod; Circadian Lighting; Daylight; Lighting Simulation; Alfa
Dunn, Peter T. (2021). Autonomous People: Identity, Agency, and Automated Driving. Journal Of Urban Technology, 28(3-4), 25 – 44.
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Abstract
The prevailing discourse on autonomous vehicles (AVs) has not yet developed a sophisticated conceptualization of autonomy and has given insufficient attention to the autonomy of people. In response, this article shifts our attention away from the AV's autonomy and towards that of its user. Autonomy is conceived here as the socially and materially situated capacity of an individual to identify and act on one's own values and desires, a capacity that is desirable for collective political life. This definition is drawn selectively from a survey of thought illustrating the richness of this concept. I then examine how studies of transportation have already made use of certain themes of autonomy in understanding mobility practices beyond dominant utilitarian models. This sets up an examination of AVs, where the existing literature tends to use a narrow conceptualization of autonomy. I then briefly examine two examples of unsettled questions in AV development, discretionary user controls and shared ride systems, in light of autonomy. The goal of this article is both to show how autonomy can be productive in understanding mobility practices, and to argue for personal autonomy as a normative value worth pursuing in the technical, political, and social development of automated mobility systems.
Keywords
Car Use; Vehicles; Travel; Accidents; Policy; Autonomy; Agency; Autonomous Vehicles; Mobility
Nemati, Kamran M.; Uhlmeyer, Jeff S. (2021). Accelerated Construction of Urban Intersections with Portland Cement Concrete Pavement (PCCP). Case Studies In Construction Materials, 14.
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Abstract
The frequent maintenance required on asphalt concrete (AC) pavement sections has made reconstruction with portland cement concrete pavement (PCCP) a feasible alternative. However, many constructability issues need to be addressed in order to realize the full potential of this alternative. Accelerated paving encompasses three classes of activities: methods to accelerate the rate of strength gain, methods to minimize the construction time, and traffic control strategies to minimize user delay. In this paper a case study will be presented in which an AC intersection was reconstructed with portland cement concrete pavement. The entire reconstruction of the intersection, including demolition of the AC pavement and its replacement with PCCP, took place over a period of three days, starting on Thursday evening and opening the intersection to the traffic on Sunday afternoon. This paper documents this effort in order to provide practitioners additional options for rapid reconstruction of urban intersections and includes documentation of the construction process, traffic management strategies, and an analysis of the costs. The results of this investigation can be used to educate pavement construction professionals and the academic community on the use of PCCP for accelerated reconstruction of major urban intersections with minimal user and traffic disruption, using innovative construction techniques and traffic management optimization principles. This investigation produced valuable information to demonstrate that concrete pavements can be constructed efficiently and quickly. (C) 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Keywords
Concrete; Accelerated Construction; Pavement; Portland Cement Concrete Pavement; Maturity Method