Kim, Boeun, Barrington, Wendy E., Dobra, Adrian, Rosenberg, Dori, Hurvitz, Philip, & Belza, Basia. (2022). Mediating Role of Walking between Perceived and Objective Walkability and Cognitive Function in Older Adults. Health & Place, 79.
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Abstract
The aim of this study was to examine the role of walking in explaining associations between perceived and objective measures of walkability and cognitive function among older adults. The study employed a cross-sectional design analyzing existing data. Data were obtained from the Adult Changes in Thought Activity Monitor study. Cognitive function and perceived walkability were measured by a survey. Objective walkability was measured using geographic information systems (GIS). Walking was measured using an accelerometer. We tested the mediating relationship based on 1,000 bootstrapped samples. Perceived walkability was associated with a 0.04 point higher cognitive function score through walking (p = 0.006). The mediating relationship accounted for 34% of the total relationship between perceived walkability and cognitive function. Walking did not have a significant indirect relationship on the association between objective walkability and cognitive function. Perceived walkability may be more relevant to walking behavior than objective walkability among older adults. Greater levels of perceived walkability may encourage older adults to undertake more walking, and more walking may in turn improve cognitive function in older adults.
Keywords
Built environment; Cognitive function; Walking; Mediation analysis; Older adults
Saelens, Brian E., Hurvitz, Philip M., Zhou, C., Colburn, T., Marchese, A., & Moudon, Anne Vernez (2022). Impact of a Light Rail Transit Line on Physical Activity: Findings from the Longitudinal Travel Assessment and Community (TRAC) Study. Journal of Transport & Health, 27.
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Abstract
Increasing transit infrastructure could increase transit use and result in higher physical activity if users actively travel to access transit. Few studies have rigorously examined transit use and physical activity change from before to years after among residents living close versus farther away from new transit options.Methods: An initial sample (n = 722) of residents living either close (1 mile network distance; unexposed) from future new light rail transit (LRT) stops in the Seattle/King County area were recruited and assessed prior to LRT opening and again 1-2 and 3-4 years later. At each assessment timepoint, residents wore an accelerometer and GPS data logger for 7 days and completed a 7-day travel log and demographic and attitudinal survey. Difference-in-difference analyses examined longitudinal change between those exposed versus unexposed to LRT in physical activity, walking (both utilitarian and recreational), and transit-related walking, and transit use.Results: There was no differential change by LRT exposure in overall physical activity (including or not including light intensity physical activity), recreational walking, or utilitarian walking, with most decreasing significantly in both exposure conditions through follow-ups. There was a differential change in transit-related walking, with those exposed to LRT slightly increasing such physical activity to the most distal follow-up, but the difference from the unexposed condition was modest (<2 min/day). There was no substantial differential change over time in transit use by LRT exposure.Conclusions: Exposure to a new light rail line did not markedly change the frequency of transit use of nearby residents, but did result in a small increase in transit-related walking relative to those unexposed. This did not differentially change the amount of overall physical activity or time spent walking compared to residents living farther away from the new LRT.
Keywords
Public Transit; Accelerometer Data; Built Environment; Behavior; Walking; Transportation; Neighborhood; Time; GPS
Handbook on Transport and Urban Transformation in China. Edited by Chia Lin Chen et al., Edward Elgar Publishing, 2020.
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Shen, Qing; Xu, Simin; Lin, Jiang. (2017). Effects of Bus Transit-oriented Development (BTOD) on Single-family Property Value in Seattle Metropolitan Area. Urban Studies, 55(13).
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Abstract
Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) is considered to be a powerful model intended to achieve sustainable urban development. A well-designed TOD enhances the accessibility of different kinds of activities, reduces transportation costs and improves the comfort and safety of travel for the neighbourhood as whole, thereby increasing the willingness to pay for real estate properties located nearby. This study examines the housing price premiums of bus transit-oriented development (BTOD), a particular type of TOD that has become quite common in practice, especially in cities where public transportation is provided primarily through a bus system instead of a metro or light rail system. BTOD projects are built at major nodes of a bus network and typically include housing units and commercial services. Our research focuses on four completed BTODs in the Seattle metropolitan area, and employs data on sales prices, physical attributes, neighbourhood characteristics and location features for almost 7000 single-family homes located within a 1.5-mile radius. Using Hedonic price analysis, we find that these BTODs have generated significant positive effects on the values of adjacent homes, especially those located within 0.5 miles. Results from a more sophisticated longitudinal analysis using the data for Renton, one of the BTODs, confirm the price premiums while gaining additional insights about the temporal variations. These findings have an important policy implication, which is especially relevant for cities with an extensive bus transit system: local governments can generate additional tax revenues while advancing sustainability through bus transit-oriented developments.
Zhang, Lei; Hong, Jinhyun; Nasri, Arefeh; Shen, Qing. (2012). How Built Environment Affects Travel Behavior: A Comparative Analysis of the Connections between Land Use and Vehicle Miles Traveled in US Cities. Journal of Transport and Land Use, 5(3).
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Abstract
Mixed findings have been reported in previous research regarding the impact of built environment on travel behavior, i.e. statistically and practically significant effects found in a number of empirical studies and insignificant correlations shown in many other studies. It is not clear why the estimated impact is stronger or weaker in certain urban areas, and how effective a proposed land use change/policy will be in changing certain travel behavior. This knowledge gap has made it difficult for decision makers to evaluate land use plans and policies according to their impact on vehicle miles traveled (VMT), and consequently their impact on congestion mitigation, energy conservation, and pollution and green house gas emission reduction. This research has several objectives: (1) Re-examine the effects of built-environment factors on travel behavior, in particular VMT in five U.S. metropolitan areas grouped into four case study areas; (2) Develop consistent models in all case study areas with the same model specification and datasets to enable direct comparisons; (3) Identify factors such as existing land use characteristics and land use policy decision-making processes that may explain the different impacts of built environment on VMT in different urban areas; and (4) Provide a prototype tool for government agencies and decision-makers to estimate the impact of proposed land use changes on VMT. The four case study areas include Seattle, WA; Richmond-Petersburg and Norfolk-Virginia Beach, VA; Baltimore, MD; and Washington DC. Our empirical analysis employs Bayesian multilevel models with various person-level socio-economic and demographic variables and five built-environment factors including residential density, employment density, entropy (measuring level of mixed-use development), average block size (measuring transit/walking friendliness), and distance to city center (measuring decentralization and level of infill development). Our findings show that promoting compact, mixed-use, small-block and infill developments can be effective in reducing VMT per person in all four case study areas. However, the effectiveness of land use plans and policies encouraging these types of land developments is different both across case study areas and within the same case study area. We have identified several factors that potentially influence the connection between built environment shifts and VMT changes including urban area size, existing built environment characteristics, transit service coverage and quality, and land use decision-making processes.
Keywords
Built environment; Land use change; Travel behavior; Vehicle miles traveled (VMT); Multilevel Bayesian model; U.S. urban transportation planning policy
Levine, J., Grengs, J., Shen, Q., & Shen, Q. (2012). Does Accessibility Require Density or Speed?. Journal of the American Planning Association, 78(2), 157–172.
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Abstract
Problem, research strategy, and findings: Advocates of accessibility as a transportation performance metric often assert that it requires higher density. Conversely, traditional transportation planning methods have valued speed per se as an indicator of success in transportation. In examining these claims, we make two methodological innovations. The first is a new intermetropolitan gravity-based accessibility metric. Second, we decompose the impact of density on accessibility to highlight the distinct opposing influences of speed and proximity in a manner that illustrates different families of relationships between these two factors. This reveals that denser metropolitan regions have slower travel speeds but greater origin-destination proximity. The former effect tends to degrade accessibility while the latter tends to enhance it. Despite theoretical reasons to expect that the speed effect dominates, results suggest that the proximity effect dominates, rendering the denser metropolitan areas more accessible.
Takeaway for practice: Having destinations nearby, as when densities are high, offers benefits even when the associated congestion slows traffic. Where land use policy frequently seeks to support low-development densities in part in an attempt to maintain travel speeds and forestall traffic congestion, our findings suggest that compact development can often improve transportation outcomes.
Research support: Environmental Protection Agency project RD-83334901-0, FHWA Cooperative Agreement Number: DTFH61-07-H-00037, and the Graham Environmental Sustainability Institute at the University of Michigan.
Keywords
accessibility; mobility; speed; proximity; transportation planning
Pan, H., Shen, Q., & Liu, C. (2011).. Transit-Oriented Development at the Urban Periphery: Insights from a Case Study in Shanghai, China. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2245(1), 95–102.
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Abstract
Major cities in China are extending rail transit into the urban periphery to counter urban growth and suburbanization that are automobile-driven and automobile-dependent. In the meantime, transit-oriented development (TOD) has been adopted widely in Chinese cities. Given the adoption of the TOD concept by many rail transit station areas at the peripheries of metropolitan regions, it is imperative to explore how TOD can be applied appropriately there. In this study, two station areas were examined in Songjiang, a district located approximately 30 km from the city center of Shanghai, China. These station areas have developed according to some basic TOD principles, and, in many important ways, they are representative of newly developed rail transit station areas in Shanghai and in other major Chinese cities. The conduct of a questionnaire survey allowed for investigation of resident travel behavior, assessment of the effectiveness of the TOD application, and discussion of how TOD should be adapted to peripheral locations in a large and complex metropolitan region. The study concluded that planners must carefully substantiate the basic TOD concept in connection with this particular kind of application setting. Careful consideration should be paid to mixed land use, differentiated density, and to pedestrian and bicycle travel and their connection with rail transit. Planners also must pay close attention to each peripheral area's economic and social conditions, as well as its relationships with the central city and with other parts of the metropolitan region. This case study not only provided timely feedback on current planning practice in Shanghai and other Chinese cities but also contributed to the literature on the adaptation of TOD to local circumstances.
Feng, R., Wang, F., Liu, S., Qi, W., Zhao, Y., & Wang, Y. (2023). How Urban Ecological Land Affects Resident Heat Exposure: Evidence from the Mega-urban Agglomeration in China. Landscape and Urban Planning, 231.
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Abstract
Resident heat exposure (RHE) is becoming more severe in the coming decades owing to rapid urbanization and climate change. Urban ecological land (UEL) provides important ecosystem services, such as mitigating the urban heat islands effect. However, the impacts of UEL on RHE remain poorly understood. This study quantifies the effects of UEL and its interaction with the natural-anthropogenic environment on RHE in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, a mega-urban agglomeration in China. The results showed a tight spatial–temporal coupling between the UEL and RHE: UEL transitioned from degradation-fragmentation in 2000–2010 to recovery-agglomeration in 2010–2020, while the RHE distribution evolved from intensification-expansion-inequity to mitigation-contraction-equity. The average explanatory power (q value) of UEL and its structure on RHE also increased by 75.99% and 70.79%, respectively. UEL patch diversity gradually dominated the RHE distribution, and the spatial marginal effect of UEL dominance increased by 234.97%. Moreover, RHE shifted from being dominated by UEL and anthropogenic heat emissions interactions to being jointly driven by UEL and natural-anthropogenic factors (especially the interaction of patch fragmentation with topography and built-up land expansion). The results of this study provide valuable information for nature-based (i.e., UEL) landscape planning and management to develop “human-centric” RHE mitigation strategies.
Keywords
Urban ecological land; Resident heat exposure; Spatial-temporal effects; Natural-anthropogenic factors; Interaction effect; Mega-urban agglomeration
Oliver, H. Pike, & Stockstill, C. Michael. (2022). Transforming the Irvine Ranch: Joan Irvine, William Pereira, Ray Watson, and the Big Plan. Routledge.
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Jeffrey Karl Ochsner; David A. Rash. (2017). Research Notes: Design for Mobility: Intercity Bus Terminals In The Puget Sound Region. Buildings & Landscapes: Journal Of The Vernacular Architecture Forum, 24(1), 67 – 91.
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