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Research Product Types: Journal Article

peer-reviewed article in academic journal

Revitalizing Urban Waterfronts: Identifying Indicators For Human Well-being

Yocom, Ken P.; Andrews, Leann; Faghin, Nicole; Dyson, Karen; Leschine, Thomas; Nam, Jungho. (2016). Revitalizing Urban Waterfronts: Identifying Indicators For Human Well-being. Aims Environmental Science, 3(3), 456 – 473.

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Abstract

Waterfront cities worldwide have begun the process of regenerating and developing their formerly industrial waterfronts into land uses that reflect a post-industrial economic vision of mixed urban uses supporting a diverse economy and wide range of infrastructure. These revitalization projects require distinct planning and management tactics to determine project-defined successes inclusive of economic, ecological, and human well-being perspectives. While empirically developed templates for economic and ecological measures exist, the multi-dimensionality and subjective nature of human well-being is more difficult to assess. Through an extensive review of indicator frameworks and expert interviews, our research proposes an organizational, yet adaptable, human well-being indicators framework for the management and development of urban waterfront revitalization projects. We analyze the framework through the lens of two waterfront projects in the Puget Sound region of the United States and identify several key factors necessary to developing project-specific human well-being indicator frameworks for urban waterfront revitalization projects. These factors include: initially specify goals and objectives of a given project, acknowledge contextual conditions including prospective land uses and projected users, identify the stage of development or management to use appropriate indicators for that stage, and develop and utilize data sources that are at a similar scale to the size of the project.

Keywords

Quality-of-life; City Waterfront; Dimensions; Framework; Science; Policy; Urban Waterfront Revitalization; Human Well-being; Indicators; Design And Management

Understanding Climate Change Risk Perception in the USA

Grover, Himanshu; Brody, Samuel D.; Vedlitz, Arnold. (2017). Understanding Climate Change Risk Perception in the USA. International Journal Of Global Warming, 13(2), 113 – 137.

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Abstract

Public perceptions of risk from climate change are an important determinant of the willingness of citizens to support climate change mitigation and adaptation policies. Although there is a growing body of research focusing on a variety of individual, cultural, and organisational factors that affect an individual's perception of risk, only a few studies have adopted a multivariate analytical approach to understand public perceptions of climate change risks. This study extends earlier interdisciplinary research initiatives and proposes a more comprehensive, integrated model for understanding climate change risk perception. Using measures of objective risk, individual climate stress, and individual capacity, we explain public perceptions of climate change risks. The analysis is based on a national representative survey of US citizens. Geographic information systems and spatial analytical techniques are used to supplement the survey data with measures of objective risk associated with the location of each respondent. Analysis of the data using multivariate regression suggests that increased objective risk and individual capacity result in significantly higher perception of risk from climate change, whereas higher individual climate stress results in lower risk perceptions.

Keywords

United-states; Public Support; Experience; Adaptation; Beliefs; Gender; Impact; Policy; Representations; Communication; Climate Change; Risk Perception; Objective Risk; Individual Climate Stress; Individual Capacity; Data Processing; Perceptions; Geographic Information Systems; Mitigation; Interdisciplinary Research; Multivariate Analysis; Environmental Risk; Regression Analysis; Environmental Policy; Perception; Interdisciplinary Studies; Remote Sensing; Information Systems; Analytical Techniques; Surveying; Policies; Research; Capacity; Adaptations; Climatic Changes; Gis; Climatic Analysis; Climate Models; Research & Development--r&d; Climate Change Mitigation; United States--us

Architecture for Health Is Not Just for Healthcare Architects

Dannenberg, Andrew L.; Burpee, Heather. (2018). Architecture for Health Is Not Just for Healthcare Architects. Health Environments Research & Design Journal (herd) (sage Publications, Ltd.), 11(2), 8 – 12.

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Keywords

Building Design & Construction; Public Health; Quality Of Life; Built Environment; Public Spaces

The Impact Of Coworkers’ Safety Violations On An Individual Worker: A Social Contagion Effect Within The Construction Crew

Liang, Huakang; Lin, Ken-yu; Zhang, Shoujian; Su, Yikun. (2018). The Impact Of Coworkers’ Safety Violations On An Individual Worker: A Social Contagion Effect Within The Construction Crew. International Journal Of Environmental Research And Public Health, 15(4).

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Abstract

This research developed and tested a model of the social contagion effect of coworkers' safety violations on individual workers within construction crews. Both situational and routine safety violations were considered in this model. Empirical data were collected from 345 construction workers in China using a detailed questionnaire. The results showed that both types of safety violations made by coworkers were significantly related to individuals' perceived social support and production pressure. Individuals' attitudinal ambivalence toward safety compliance mediated the relationships between perceived social support and production pressure and both types of individuals' safety violations. However, safety motivation only mediated the effects of perceived social support and production pressure on individuals' situational safety violations. Further, this research supported the differences between situational and routine safety violations. Specifically, we found that individuals were more likely to imitate coworkers' routine safety violations than their situational safety violations. Coworkers' situational safety violations had an indirect effect on individuals' situational safety violations mainly through perceived social support and safety motivation. By contrast, coworkers' routine safety violations had an indirect effect on individuals' routine safety violations mainly through perceived production pressure and attitudinal ambivalence. Finally, the theoretical and practical implications, research limitations, and future directions were discussed.

Keywords

Health-care Settings; Job Demands; Attitudinal Ambivalence; Industry Development; Workplace Safety; Behavior; Climate; Model; Risk; Employee; Social Contagion; Situational Safety Violations; Routine Safety Violations; Social Learning; Social Information Processing

Six Fundamental Aspects for Conceptualizing Multidimensional Urban Form: A Spatial Mapping Perspective

Wentz, Elizabeth A.; York, Abigail M.; Alberti, Marina; Conrow, Lindsey; Fischer, Heather; Inostroza, Luis; Jantz, Claire; Pickett, Steward T. A.; Seto, Karen C.; Taubenboeck, Hannes. (2018). Six Fundamental Aspects for Conceptualizing Multidimensional Urban Form: A Spatial Mapping Perspective. Landscape And Urban Planning, 179, 55 – 62.

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Abstract

Urbanization is currently one of the most profound transformations taking place across the globe influencing the flows of people, energy, and matter. The urban form influences and is influenced by these flows and is therefore critical in understanding and how urban areas affect and are affected by form. Nevertheless, there is a lack of uniformity in how urban form is analyzed. Urban form analyzed from a continuum of a simple urban versus non-urban classification to highly detailed representations of land use and land cover. Either end of the representation spectrum limits the ability to analyze within-urban dynamics, to make cross-city comparisons, and to produce generalizable results. In the framework of remote sensing and geospatial analysis, we identify and define six fundamental aspects of urban form, which are organized within three overarching components. Materials, or the physical elements of the urban landscape, consists of three aspects (1) human constructed elements, (2) the soil-plant continuum, and (3) water elements. The second component is configuration, which includes the (4) two- and three-dimensional space and (5) spatial pattern of urban areas. Lastly, because of the dynamics of human activities and biophysical processes, an important final component is the change of urban form over (6) time. We discuss how a this urban form framework integrates into a broader discussion of urbanization.

Keywords

Ecosystem Services; Land-use; Reconceptualizing Land; Cellular-automata; Heterogeneity; Framework; Model; Emissions; Dynamics; Cities; Gis; Remote Sensing; Land Use; Land Cover; Urban Form; Urban Materials; Energy; Humans; Land Use And Land Cover Maps; Landscapes; Urban Areas; Urbanization

Activity Space Metrics Not Associated with Sociodemographic Variables, Diet or Health Outcomes in the Seattle Obesity Study II

Drewnowski, Adam; Aggarwal, Anju; Rose, Chelsea M.; Gupta, Shilpi; Delaney, Joseph A.; Hurvitz, Philip M. (2019). Activity Space Metrics Not Associated with Sociodemographic Variables, Diet or Health Outcomes in the Seattle Obesity Study II. Spatial And Spatio-temporal Epidemiology, 30.

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Abstract

Background: Activity spaces (AS), captured using GPS tracking devices, are measures of dynamic exposure to the built environment (BE). Methods: Seven days of Global Positioning Systems (GPS) tracking data were obtained for 433 adult participants in the Seattle Obesity Study (SOS II). Heights and weights were measured. Dietary intakes from a food frequency questionnaire were used to calculate Healthy Eating Index (HEI 2010) scores. Linear regression analyses examined associations between AS measures: daily route length, convex hull, and radius of gyration, and diet quality and health outcomes, adjusting for covariates. Results: AS measures did not vary by age, gender, race/ethnicity, or socioeconomic status. AS measures were not associated with diet quality or with self-reported obesity or diabetes. One AS measure, route length (in miles), was associated with being employed, living in the suburbs, and with distance and time commuting to work. Conclusion: Spatial mobility studies based on GPS tracking of environmental exposure need to demonstrate a link to relevant health outcomes. (C) 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Keywords

Local Food Environment; Physical-activity; Gps Data; Exposure; Patterns; Quality; Women; Index; Built Environment (be); Activity Space; Route Length; Hei 2010; Bmi

A Tutorial on Dynasearch: A Web-Based System for Collecting Process-Tracing Data in Dynamic Decision Tasks

Lindell, Michael K.; House, Donald H.; Gestring, Jordan; Wu, Hao-Che. (2019). A Tutorial on Dynasearch: A Web-Based System for Collecting Process-Tracing Data in Dynamic Decision Tasks. Behavior Research Methods, 51(6), 2646 – 2660.

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Abstract

This tutorial describes DynaSearch, a Web-based system that supports process-tracing experiments on coupled-system dynamic decision-making tasks. A major need in these tasks is to examine the process by which decision makers search over a succession of situation reports for the information they need in order to make response decisions. DynaSearch provides researchers with the ability to construct and administer Web-based experiments containing both between- and within-subjects factors. Information search pages record participants' acquisition of verbal, numeric, and graphic information. Questionnaire pages query participants' recall of information, inferences from that information, and decisions about appropriate response actions. Experimenters can access this information in an online viewer to verify satisfactory task completion and can download the data in comma-separated text files that can be imported into statistical analysis packages.

Keywords

Downloading; Text Files; Tasks; Access To Information; Statistics; Dynamic Decision Making; Process Tracing; Web-based Experiments; Information Search; Human-behavior; Eye-tracking; Choice; Expectations; Strategies; Mousetrap; Software; Time

Busy Businesses and Busy Contexts: The Distribution and Sources of Crime at Commercial Properties.

Tillyer, Marie Skubak; Walter, Rebecca J. (2019). Busy Businesses and Busy Contexts: The Distribution and Sources of Crime at Commercial Properties. Journal Of Research In Crime & Delinquency, 56(6), 816 – 850.

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Abstract

Objective: Examine the distribution and sources of crime across freestanding businesses in San Antonio. We test hypotheses about the main and interactive effects of neighborhood and business characteristics on crime at the business, with a focus on busy contexts and busy businesses. Method: Police crime incident data are spatially joined to study area business parcels. Additional data sources include Infogroup USA Business Data, the American Community Survey, and an Environmental Protection Agency traffic activity indicator. Multilevel negative binomial regression models are estimated to observe the main and interactive effects of census block group and business variables on crime at the parcel. Results: Businesses located in block groups with more commercial property and high levels of vehicular traffic experience more crime. In addition, crime is higher at busy businesses, as indicated by employee size, sales volume, and square footage. Busy contexts and busy businesses do not appear to interact to increase crime at the parcel beyond their main effects. Conclusions: Crime is clustered at relatively few businesses, and this variation cannot be explained by business type alone. Both neighborhood and business characteristics are associated with crime at freestanding businesses, with busy businesses and those within busier block groups experiencing more crime.

Keywords

Business Enterprises; Commercial Real Estate; Crime; Businesses; Busy Places; Crime And Place; Crime Concentration; Infogroup Usa (company); United States. Environmental Protection Agency; Social-disorganization; Routine Activities; Street Segments; Micro Places; High-schools; Hot-spots; Criminology; Neighborhoods; Facilities; Multilevel; Companies; Law Enforcement; Business; Protection; Traffic; Police; Census; Trade; Sales; Environmental Protection; Commercial Property

The Complexity of Urban Eco-Evolutionary Dynamics

Alberti, Marina; Palkovacs, Eric P.; Des Roches, Simone; De Meester, Luc; Brans, Kristien, I; Govaert, Lynn; Grimm, Nancy B.; Harris, Nyeema C.; Hendry, Andrew P.; Schell, Christopher J.; Szulkin, Marta; Munshi-south, Jason; Urban, Mark C.; Verrelli, Brian C. (2020). The Complexity of Urban Eco-Evolutionary Dynamics. Bioscience, 70(9), 772 – 793.

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Abstract

Urbanization is changing Earth's ecosystems by altering the interactions and feedbacks between the fundamental ecological and evolutionary processes that maintain life. Humans in cities alter the eco-evolutionary play by simultaneously changing both the actors and the stage on which the eco-evolutionary play takes place. Urbanization modifies land surfaces, microclimates, habitat connectivity, ecological networks, food webs, species diversity, and species composition. These environmental changes can lead to changes in phenotypic, genetic, and cultural makeup of wild populations that have important consequences for ecosystem function and the essential services that nature provides to human society, such as nutrient cycling, pollination, seed dispersal, food production, and water and air purification. Understanding and monitoring urbanization-induced evolutionary changes is important to inform strategies to achieve sustainability. In the present article, we propose that understanding these dynamics requires rigorous characterization of urbanizing regions as rapidly evolving, tightly coupled human-natural systems. We explore how the emergent properties of urbanization affect eco-evolutionary dynamics across space and time. We identify five key urban drivers of change-habitat modification, connectivity, heterogeneity, novel disturbances, and biotic interactions-and highlight the direct consequences of urbanization-driven eco-evolutionary change for nature's contributions to people. Then, we explore five emerging complexities-landscape complexity, urban discontinuities, socio-ecological heterogeneity, cross-scale interactions, legacies and time lags-that need to be tackled in future research. We propose that the evolving metacommunity concept provides a powerful framework to study urban eco-evolutionary dynamics.

Keywords

Habitat Modification; Seed Dispersal; Water Purification; Species Diversity; Human Behavior; Ecosystem Services; Nutrient Cycles; Cross-scale Interactions; Ecological Consequences; Contemporary Evolution; Gradient Analysis; Trophic Dynamics; Land-cover; Community; Biodiversity; Adaptation; Urban Ecology; Eco-evolutionary Dynamics; Coupled Human-natural Systems; Metacommunities; Ecology; Urbanization; Evolution; Water Treatment; Environmental Monitoring; Species Composition; Environmental Changes; Play; Food Production; Air Purification; Sustainability; Dynamic Tests; Air Monitoring; Urban Areas; Food Webs; Heterogeneity; Food Chains; Pollination; Dynamics; Complexity; Dispersal; Microclimate