Tuesday, January 31, 2012

The influence of urban physical form on trip generation, evidence from metropolitan Shiraz, Iran

by Ali Soltani and Yousef Esmaeili Ivaki

This paper aims to examine the relationship between urban form and personal daily trips between urban zones across Metropolitan Shiraz, Iran. To cope with collinearity nature of trip generation determinants and also multicollinearity in model estimation, component principal analysis (PCA) was employed to identify latent dimensions of trip generation. Then, a multiple regression model with continuous independent variables was developed to measure the effect of each individual variable on entire trips generated among urban zones. The explanatory variables included both physical characteristics of the metropolitan (land use diversity, density, suburbanization, connectivity, and accessibility to public transport), and socio-economic characteristics of trip makers (age, employment status, education, migration, property value) aggregated on the urban zones scale. The empirical findings, based on ordinary least squares (OLS) estimation of 2006 data for 47 traffic area zones (TAZ) with total population over 1.1 million indicated that socio-economic characteristics were the most positive determinants of trip generation among the zones. On contrast, suburbanization (distance from central business district (CBD)) and distance from public transport facilities were negatively associated with the trip generation. However, other physical factors such as land use mix and network connectivity were found not important in influencing intra-zone trip generation, probably influencing inter-zone trip generation instead. In fact, improving local accessibility may reduce the need to intra-zonal travel, rather may also increase the tendency to travel within the neighborhood area.

more about travel behavior and urban form:

The Saga of Integrated Land Use-Transport Modeling: How Many More Dreams Before We Wake Up?

TRAVEL DEMAND FORECASTING FOR URBAN TRANSPORTATION PLANNING

OVERVIEW OF LAND-USE TRANSPORT MODELS

Neighborhood Design and the Accessibility of the Elderly: An Empirical Analysis in Northern California

Effects of Site Design on Pedestrian Travel in Mixed-Use, Medium-Density Environments

Using networks is important to make communities according to Jane Jacobs

The average American walks about 400 yards a day. That is why Jane Jacobs explains about the possibilities of using urban form for promoting physical activity in the American urban areas. The solution that she introduces in this short video, is using networks in order to make communities.

more about Jane Jacobs:

An urban legacy in need of renewal

To walk the path of Jane Jacobs – review of What We See, Advancing the Observations of Jane Jacobs

Jane Jacobs was the seer of the modern city

Moses v. Jacobs: Who Lived the Abogo Lifestyle?

Graffiti photos of Rotterdam, Netherlands

Graffiti in Rotterdam, Netherlands, photo by mediadeo

Graffiti in Rotterdam, Netherlands, photo by stevent

Graffiti in Rotterdam, Netherlands, photo by tdietmut

Graffiti in Rotterdam, Netherlands, photo by FaceMePLS

Graffiti in Rotterdam, Netherlands, photo by Akbar Sim (busy)

Graffiti in Rotterdam, Netherlands, photo by tdietmut

Graffiti in Rotterdam, Netherlands, photo by Ozute

more graffiti photos:

Revolutionary graffitis in the streets of Cairo, Egypt

Artbase Grabowsee – Urban Art Festival

Graffiti photos of Boston

Grafitti photos, Los Angeles 1

Grafitti photos, Atlanta 1

Graffiti photos, Amsterdam 1

Graffiti photos, London 1

Urban sprawl: metrics, dynamics and modelling using GIS

by H.S. Sudhira , T.V. Ramachandra, and K.S.Jagadish

Urban sprawl refers to the extent of urbanisation, which is a global phenomenon mainly driven by population growth and large scale migration. In developing countries like India, where the population is over one billion, one-sixth of the world’s population, urban sprawl is taking its toll on the natural resources at an alarming pace. Urban planners require information related to the rate of growth, pattern and extent of sprawl to provide basic amenities such as water, sanitation, electricity, etc. In the absence of such information, most of the sprawl areas lack basic infrastructure facilities. Pattern and extent of sprawl could be modelled with the help of spatial and temporal data. GIS and remote sensing data along with collateral data help in analysing the growth, pattern and extent of sprawl. With the spatial and temporal analyses along with modelling it was possible to identify the pattern of sprawl and subsequently predict the nature of future sprawl. This paper brings out the extent of sprawl taking place over a period of nearly three decades using GIS and Remote Sensing. The study also attempts to describe some of the landscape metrics required for quantifying sprawl. For understanding and modelling this dynamic phenomenon, prominent causative factors are considered.

more about GIS:

Modelling Policies for Urban Sustainability

APPLICATION OF REMOTE SENSING AND GIS TECHNIQUE FOR EFFICIENT URBAN PLANNING IN INDIA

GIS in U.S. Urban Studies and Planning Education

Think Globally, Act Regionally: GIS and Data Visualization for Social Science and Public Policy Research

Urban Planning Management Information System based on GIS

New Developments in GIS for Urban Planning

Using GIS for Optimisation in Transportation Planning

by Günter Kiechle

The use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for preparing input data for optimisation algorithms improves the practical applicability of such algorithms in the field of transportation planning. This promising combination of technologies is the subject of a collaboration between the University of Vienna and Salzburg Research.

Vehicle Routing Problems (VRPs) are a widely investigated class of problems in combinatorial optimisation, and include many transportation tasks (eg parcel services). In general, a VRP consists of a set of customers that must be served via a fleet of vehicles, each of which leaves from and returns to a central depot. The type of VRP determines whether customers have goods delivered to them, are transported from one location to another, or are served in some other way.

Using GIS for Real-World Input Data
In research, most solution techniques for this class of problem are designed and tested by means of synthetic problem structures. However, the tackling of real-world VRPs requires a thoroughly elaborated data basis in order to provide reasonable outcomes. If this is not the case, even the best solution techniques are of no use for practical applications.

Essential input data for real-world VRPs is gathered by using Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Whereas most researchers use Euclidean distances between customers and depots for their optimisation algorithms, a GIS can provide real distance information derived from a digital road network.

Experiences in former projects showed that using distance data of limited quality in optimisation algorithms leads to results of even more limited quality. In the worst case, a valid solution for a given input dataset might actually be unfeasible in reality.

read more

more about GIS applications:

MODELING AND VISUALIZING 3D URBAN ENVIRONMENT VIA INTERNET FOR URBAN PLANNING AND MONITORING

Interconnections of Urban Green Spaces and Environmental Quality of Tehran

Accessibility effect on urban land values

Modeling street connectivity, pedestrian movement and land-use according to standard GIS street network representations: A Comparative Study

REMOTE SENSING IMAGE INTERPRETATION STUDY SERVING URBAN PLANNING BASED ON GIS

A GIS-based gradient analysis of urban landscape pattern of Shanghai metropolitan area, China

Land development, land use, and urban sprawl in Puerto Rico integrating remote sensing and population census data

Sunday, January 29, 2012

GROWING PATRONAGE - THINK TRAM?

by Dennis Cliche and Sam Reid

The emerging congestion crisis in Melbourne is underlined by Melbourne City Council’s recent prediction that visitation to the CBD will increase from current levels of around 690,000 people to one million people per day by 2017. Public transport has been identified as one of the keys to solving the demands of travel to and from the city, and to reducing the impact of traffic congestion. This has created a number of challenges for shaping patronage growth on Melbourne’s public transport network, and for making trams a competitive travel option for commuters - especially when a large proportion of the tram network shares road space with other vehicles and is caught in the congestion.
The challenge of growing patronage on public transport not only requires incentives for behavioural change amongst commuters, but also for improvements to the level of service offered through tram speeds and frequency, and better access for mobility impaired passengers. This can be achieved through a program of service and infrastructure investments and by appealing to a concern for wider social responsibility (minimising the impact of car pollution, reducing congestion etc). Indeed, if public transport is to successfully address the broader issues of traffic congestion and city pollution, then it must provide the impetus for commuters to rethink their travel behaviours and create a modal shift.
This paper will examine Yarra Trams’ approach to growing patronage on a tram system that shares its road space with other vehicles, and also discuss how the Think Tram program provides the foundation and the infrastructure to grow patronage by offering a service that delivers opportunities for a more consistent, accessible and efficient alternative to car travel.

pictures of trams in Prague, Czech Republic:

more about public transportation:

Dortmund Light Rail Developments, Germany

TRANSPORT POLICIES IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE

Sydney: monorail soon to be scrap metal?

Buses Spread the Love in Copenhagen

Art in the Tehran Metro

Friday, January 27, 2012

What happens when there are not enough houses?

via Cities Matter

Closing CHRANZ
Yesterday the Centre for Housing Research Aotearoa New Zealand (CHRANZ) closed. This public agency funded independent and contestable research into New Zealand’s housing markets.

The Centre commissioned some important research, developing tools for analysing housing markets; looking at housing supply and demand, and their impact on prices; identifying the needs of different groups; examining regional markets; and most importantly documenting changing trends in affordability, ownership, and the disturbing emergence of the intermediate housing market.

But this posting is not a wake for CHRANZ. Fortunately it has created an important knowledge base that enables us to understand the challenges we face, and which will be relevant for some time to come.[1]

It’s ironic, though, that its closure takes place at a time when there are more questions over housing than ever, more challenges and more uncertainties.

Housing – the perfect storm?

Rebuilding Christchurch The earthquakes in Christchurch throw up huge questions over how and where many residents will be housed, and even more questions over just what will happen to the city’s population in the medium term, and its projected demand for housing.

Westhaven, Auckland, New Zealand, photo by Sandy Austin

Mount Victoria, Auckland, New Zealand, by Squirmelia

more about housing:

The Comprehensive Plan and Land Development Regulations: Putting Words Into Action

Can Ontario deliver the continent's best land-use plan?

Low Carbon Housing for `Young Cities`: Experiences from Hashtgerd New Town, Iran

Accessibility effect on urban land values

Affordable Housing - theoretical utopia or achievable reality

The Comprehensive Plan and Land Development Regulations: Putting Words Into Action

by Wendy Grey

In this article, we'll explore the relationship between the comprehensive plan and its implementing regulations and some strategies for improving how these documents work together. We'll also discuss the local planning process as a "feedback loop" -- that is, the need for the plan and regulations to be refined and improved on a regular basis as a result of practical experience and ongoing evaluation.

The Comprehensive Plan

1. Sections of the Plan

As its name implies, the comprehensive plan is the broadest document guiding development. The plan typically contains sections (sometimes called "elements") that address the major subjects influencing the community's development. The sections will generally include land use, transportation, environmental resource protection, infrastructure, housing, and economic development. Other sections may include sustainability, historic preservation, community character, and public safety (e.g., disaster preparedness).

Comprehensive Plan of Rapid Transit Routes (1930), City and County of San Francisco, photo by Eric Fischer

similar posts:

Can Ontario deliver the continent's best land-use plan?

Review of Land Use Models: Theory and Application

IMROVING URBAN LAND USE PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT IN NIGERIA: THE CASE OF AKURE

Innovation and the American Metropolis

SMART GROWTH, SMART CHOICES SERIES: MIXED-USE DEVELOPMENT

The Economics of Sustainable Cities: Four Key Components

By Joe Peach

1. Communicating the economic benefits of sustainability
If there really are economic benefits from creating sustainable cities, we need to do a better job of communicating them with politicians, businesses, and residents. Andrew Fleming (@AndrewSFleming) said that ‘public buy-in is crucial, and a lack of consultation thus far has been problematic’. Mayra Hartmann (@MayraHart) suggested money is the main driver in going sustainable, saying ‘the majority will go where the money goes’, but Aaron Coulter (@AaronCoulter) disagreed, suggesting sustainable cities are created by making sustainability ‘the easiest choice’. Ignacio Ramos Soriano (@Ignacio_Ramos) emphasised the main goal with communicating the economics of sustainable cities, saying ‘you can’t have a smart city without smart citizens’.

2. Leadership
Future Cape Town (@FutureCapeTown) acknowledged that whilst the expense of creating sustainable cities may be off-putting, strong leadership could overcome that challenge.

3. ...

read more

photo by Sam Antonio Photography

more about urban economy:

THE ROLE OF URBAN TRANSPORT IN SUSTAINABLE HUMAN SETTLEMENTS DEVELOPMENT

Retail Trade as a Route to Neighborhood Revitalization

Revisiting China’s ‘Empty City’ of Ordos

Bangkok’s city development plan to include six provinces in 2011

Inequality and Urban Shrinkage: A Close Relationship in Latin America

A comparison of urban shrinkage in Baltimore (Maryland, USA) and Osaka (Japan) : reversed patterns of urban decline ?

Can Ontario deliver the continent's best land-use plan?

by Kaid Benfield

I’m fond of saying that the best-conceived plan for managing growth and development in North America is the Places to Grow framework adopted by the province of Ontario, Canada. Constructed pursuant to enabling legislation adopted by the province in 2005, Places to Grow addresses the future of a New Hampshire-sized region around and including Toronto, Canada’s largest city, and Hamilton, its 8th-largest. Called the “Greater Golden Horseshoe” for its bending shape around the western edge of Lake Ontario, the region also touches Lake Erie and the Georgian Bay that extends from Lake Huron.

I was fortunate enough to be invited to participate in some of the planning sessions for Places to Grow, and in 2007 I wrote that it was the best land-use plan I have ever seen. I’m still not sure that I have seen a better one, at least in concept: the plan, if fully implemented, will channel growth to the places within the Horseshoe region where environmental impacts will be reduced compared to an unmanaged scenario, as well as to places, including distressed inner city neighborhoods, that would benefit from more investment, jobs and people.

The Horseshoe region is forecast to grow by 3.7 million people (a 47 percent population increase) and 1.8 million jobs by 2031. It is already home to a quarter of Canada’s population and will soon be the third-largest urban region in North America. Imagine the consequences if development is allowed to spread all over the land, without good planning. Imagine the lost landscape, the additional roads and traffic, the pollution, the lost habitat, the global warming emissions.

Toronto, Canada, photo by Sweet One

more about Canada:

CN TOWER A Monument to Canadian Architecture

From Revitalisation to Revaluation in the Spence Neighbourhood

Skyline photos of Montreal 1

Graffiti photos of Vancouver 1

On defining "Sprawl"

For the Record: The First Women in Canadian Architecture

Master of Urban Design Studies- University of Toronto

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Changes in population settlement pattern in urban system of Tehran province (1966 to 2006)

by Abolfazl Meshkini and Hojatollah Rahimi

Rapid suburbanization in urban system of Tehran province has been driven by the government’s policies in past decades, transport system development and land price differences between metropolises and Periphery area. Cities in Periphery area grew rapidly during 1966 to 1986 as families moved there in anticipation of jobs. The non-appearance of jobs resulted in poor social services, gridlocked freeways and long travel distances to metropolises for job. The aim of this paper was to investigate how population settlement pattern in urban system of Tehran province USTP have been changed during 1966 to 2006. Methods adopted for this purpose were Mehta index, entropy coefficient and urban development model. Furthermore, for more analysis paper was supported by some theories such as system theory, primate city theory, basic economy theory, suburbanization theories, etc. Secondary data used in this paper were collected from governmental organizations (statistical data and map). Results show that growth of big cities in number and in population is the most considerable change which has been happened in urban system of Tehran province (USTP). What make it critical is their short distance from Tehran and Karaj. The paper argues that although distribution both in urban population and in urban points occurred during 1966 to 2006. But it is very important that where the destination of population flows. Because of their short distance, big cities exert double pressure on infrastructures of metropolises and agricultural lands in periphery area. The paper recommends seeking new structures for management in USTP because roots of change pressure extend beyond individual city.

more about Tehran:

IMPROVING THE SERVICE QUALITY, SUSTAINABILITY, AND EFFICIENCY OF MASS PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS (WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO TRANSIT ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT IN IRANIAN CITIES)

Evaluating integration between public transportation and pedestrian-oriented urban spaces in two main metro stations of Tehran

Tehran's "Bike House" Shines Green

Urban Ecological landscape of Tehran

Urban Planning for Tehran, By Using Environmental Modeling and GIS/RS

A GIS-based Traffic Control Strategy Planning at Urban Intersections

The Saga of Integrated Land Use-Transport Modeling: How Many More Dreams Before We Wake Up?

by Harry Timmermans

The division of labour in modern societies has resulted in a spatial allocation of functions, such as residences, shops, restaurants, leisure facilities, etc. In order to survive and to conduct their preferred activities, individuals, households and firms have to travel. The spatial distribution of land use (planned or unplanned) constitutes the choice set from which individuals can pick the destinations where they wish to conduct the activities they need or desire to perform. Although spatial land use patterns restrict individual choices, it seems that in many situations a relatively large degree of freedom still remains to choose the preferred destinations. Empirical evidence tends to suggest that the relationship between characteristics of land use patterns and aspects of mobility is weak. Thus, land use patterns seem to provide opportunities to travel as opposed to dictating travel behaviour. If public transport does not exist in a particular neighbourhood, people cannot use it; it if does exist, people don’t necessarily use it.

more about land use/transportation modelling:

Effects of Site Design on Pedestrian Travel in Mixed-Use, Medium-Density Environments

How Urban Design Affect Personal Activity and Travel Choice - An Analysis of Travel Data from Sample Communities in Adelaide

Urban form, individual spatial footprints, and travel: An examination of space-use behavior

COLLECTING SOCIAL NETWORK DATA TO STUDY SOCIAL ACTIVITY-TRAVEL BEHAVIOUR: AN EGOCENTRIC APPROACH

Review of Land Use Models: Theory and Application

by Kazem Oryani

In this paper we will discuss our methodology in reviewing land use models and identifying desired attributes for recommending a model for application by the Delaware Valley Planning Commission (DVRPC). The need for land-use transportation interaction is explored, followed by a synthesis of inventory of land use models for agency use. This is followed by an overview of three operational land use models.
Details of three operational models — DRAM-EMPAL (S. H. Putman), MEPLAN (Marcial Echenique)
and METROSIM (Alex Anas) — are explored in terms of model formulation and special features. In order to draw on the main factors in implementation, we conducted detailed telephone interviews with five major Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) who use land use models. These interviews were performed as part of our work for the enhancement of DVRPC’s travel simulation models in 1996.
A two-step model selection and implementation process is proposed. The recommendation is that limited versions of the above three modes be acquired for prototype use, policy analysis and impact assessment. The final selection will be based on objective performance of the models using a similar battery of tests on the same data sets.

similar posts:

Sustainability: A Vital Concept for Transportation Planning and Development

Residential Location Decisions: Heterogeneity and the Trade-off between Location and Housing Quality

Tradeoffs in residential location decisions: Transportation versus other factors

Remote Sensing and Urban Growth Models – Demands and Perspectives

Modeling the environmental impacts of urban land use and land cover change—a study in Merseyside, UK

URBAN LAND USE CHANGE ANALYSIS AND MODELING: A CASE STUDY OF SETÚBAL AND SESIMBRA, PORTUGAL

OVERVIEW OF LAND-USE TRANSPORT MODELS

IMROVING URBAN LAND USE PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT IN NIGERIA: THE CASE OF AKURE

by Afolabi ARIBIGBOLA

This paper examines urban land use planning and management practices in Akure, Nigeria with the aim of identifying how to improve it and achieve sustainable city development in the country. It highlights land use planning and management policies and regulations in the city. It further discusses the implications of uncoordinated land use management in context of developing world cities and suggests how to improve the present inefficient practices. The paper draws on a systematic survey of land use mechanisms and activities, departments and agencies of government responsible for land use planning and management as well as individuals involved in land use activities including land owners in the study area. The paper revealed that land use management in the city has been wholly concerned with the granting of statutory right of occupancy and approval of plans to use land for different purposes, without adequate monitoring of its outcomes. It also shows that land management and control tools are either not available or weakly implemented and disjointed and uncoordinated since several organizations and agencies are involved without a coordinating agency or an overall land use plan within which effective land use management can be undertaken. It suggests a reorganization of urban land use planning and management machinery in the area and institutionalization of Local Planning Authority as indispensable to achieving sustainable land use planning and management in the city.

more about land use palnning:

FIVE PLANNING PRINCIPLES FOR SUCCESSFUL URBAN DISTRICT DEVELOPMENT - RECENT EXAMPLES FROM GERMANY

Remote Sensing and Urban Growth Models – Demands and Perspectives

New Design Standards For Neo-traditional and Low Speed Neighborhood Streets

Visioning Vs. Modeling: Analyzing the Land Use-Transportation Futures of Urban Regions

New Directions for Urban Economic Models of Land Use Change: Incorporating Spatial Heterogeneity and Transitional Dynamics

FIVE PLANNING PRINCIPLES FOR SUCCESSFUL URBAN DISTRICT DEVELOPMENT - RECENT EXAMPLES FROM GERMANY

by MICHAEL PETEREK

For a long time, almost all cities in Germany have been determined by a merely quantitative expansion of their urbanised areas. These developments were related to an important change of scale: from delimited cityscapes to almost unlimited city-regions.
The effects are widely known: suburbanisation and extensive urban sprawl, mono-functional zoning of our cities, leading to a physical, functional and social separation of their single constitutive parts. On the one hand, there are mono-functional residential zones, strictly divided under the terms of the specific socio-economical status of their inhabitants, and on the other hand, there are equally mono-functional areas zoned for business and industries, too. The result is a disintegrated city that falls apart into different zones, sectors and partitions, creating an increasing necessity of connecting individual automobile mobility to make the city work at least. To sum up, this disintegrated city is not a sustainable form of urban living at all.
At the same time, urban societies are subject to enormous changes today, facing novel and so far unbeknown demographic, social, ecological and economic challenges – like the ageing of society, smaller and much more diversified household typologies – well beyond the traditional nuclear families –, an increasing immigration and with it cultural differentiation in our cities, severe ecological and economic constraints and others. These transformations make the enhancement of new forms and models of collective living in urban societies necessary. The scale of urban districts can be helpful for these purposes.

Housing in French Quarter, Südstadt, Tübingen, by passage.co

Planned urban space in French Quarter, Südstadt, Tübingen, by passage.co

more about sustaibability:

The Costs and Financial Benefits of Green Buildings: A Report to California’s Sustainable Building Task Force

A Garden City Without A Garden!

Tussle over SB 375 target for Southern California resolved, but funding challenges remain

Location Efficiency is More Important than Home Efficiency for Energy Savings

Eco building idea from Alexander Remizov

New Heden // Gothenburg // Sweden // Kjellgren Kaminsky Architects

New Heden: The City Made of Green Roofs

Planning as Storytelling: Sustaining America’s Cities

Developing Spatial Urban Planning Guidance for Achieving Sustainable Urban Development

by Habib M. Alshuwaikhat

Sustainable urban planning guides are being developed to direct spatial urban planning both at the local and regional levels towards sustainability. However, due to the multifaceted nature of spatial planning, different guides do focus on different aspects of planning and tend to overlook or lay little emphasis on other aspects. The goal of achieving sustainability through spatial urban planning requires that integrated sustainable planning guidance which will incorporate all aspects should be developed. This paper discusses a general framework of sustainable spatial urban planning. It highlights the need for better urban planning guidance and proposes general guidelines in view of current international practices. These guidelines are very pertinent at this time when frequent calls are made from different international, national and local levels to ensure sustainability in urban development.

more about urban sustainability:

Sustainable Residential Development in Urban Areas (Cities, Towns & Villages)

BEST PRACTICE IN FACILITATING AND PROMOTING ACTIVE TRAVEL

What is Green Urbanism? Holistic Principles to Transform Cities for Sustainability

THE ROLE OF PHYSICAL IDENTITY OF CITY IN URBAN SUSTAINABILITY (THE CASE STUDY: YAZD,IRAN)

Urban Ecological landscape of Tehran

Sustainable Urban Planning

Urban Planning and Real Estate Development

SUSTAINABLE URBAN DESIGN REVISITED: Some brief notes of ecological notions in creating liveable city

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

TRAVEL DEMAND FORECASTING FOR URBAN TRANSPORTATION PLANNING

by Arun Chatterjee and Mohan M. Venigalla

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The basic purpose of transportation planning and management is to match transportation supply with travel demand, which represents ‘need’. A thorough understanding of existing travel pattern is necessary for identifying and analyzing existing traffic related problems. Detailed data on current travel pattern and traffic volumes are needed also for developing travel forecasting/prediction models. The prediction of future travel demand is an essential task of the long-range transportation planning process for determining strategies for accommodating future needs. These strategies may include land use policies, pricing programs, and expansion of transportation supply – highways and transit service.

more about travel behavior:

Residential Areas for Households without Cars The Scope for Neighbourhood Mobility Management in Scandinavian Cities

How Urban Design Affect Personal Activity and Travel Choice - An Analysis of Travel Data from Sample Communities in Adelaide

Effects of Site Design on Pedestrian Travel in Mixed-Use, Medium-Density Environments

Remote Sensing and Urban Growth Models – Demands and Perspectives

by Martin Herold, Gunter Menz and Keith C. Clarke

Urban growth and land use change models are an important and innovative tool that support planning and development of sustainable urban areas. The data requirements for parameterization, calibration and validation of urban models are intense due to the complexity of the models and their objectives. In this study several urban land use change models are evaluated and their demands on spatial data sets are compared. These needs are discussed and evaluated based on the use of remotely-sensed high spatial and temporal resolution data. The results show especially the need for accurate urban land use information due to the Level II and III of the USGS/Anderson land cover/use classification scheme. An appropriate methodology for urban land use differentiation using high resolution remotely sensed data is presented and evaluated in test sites in the southern California city of Santa Barbara, USA. The approach is based on irregularly-shaped regions of homogenous urban land use as the defined mapping units. Within these regions, spatial and fractal metrics were applied to describe the land cover structure, to acquire urban land use information and to describe socioeconomic features.
The application of one of the evaluated urban growth models is presented, based on a seventy-year time series of air photos. The urban growth process, as well as future predictions of land use change are well represented in the model based upon the concept of cellular automata and demonstrate the potential of a combined remote sensing and modeling approach.

more about remote sensing:

Remote Sensing and Urban Growth Models – Demands and Perspectives

APPLICATION OF REMOTE SENSING AND GIS TECHNIQUE FOR EFFICIENT URBAN PLANNING IN INDIA

GIS in U.S. Urban Studies and Planning Education

EVACUATION PLANNING IN EARTHQUAKE DISASTERS, USING RS & GIS

Remote Sensing and Urban Growth Models – Demands and Perspectives

Naturalistic forest landscape in urban areas: challenges and solutions

by ILZE JANKOVSKA and INGA STRAUPE

Growing urbanization and rapid development of the cities create conflict situations between development of building areas and natural areas. A built environment represents a high level of intervention in the ecosystem, altering the landscape and disturbing the natural processes. In an urbanized society, urban green areas are important as a place for contact with nature. The main purpose of the presented study were to review the present situation concerning the management and condition of naturalistic forest landscapes in urban areas and to study the attitude of professionals towards naturalistic forest landscapes in the urban area of Riga city, Latvia. The survey includes the opinions of representatives of different fields from Riga municipality and other institutions related to ecological, practical, planning and conservation activities, and also private working landscape architects. The statistical analysis and data’s empirical distribution showed that professionals in Riga city recognize the values and benefits of naturalistic forest landscape. However, environmental preferences may depend more on affective reactions than on ecologically-based logical operations.

more about urban landscape:

Pop-up placemaking and next gen urban neighborhoods

CONZENIAN URBAN MORPHOLOGY AND URBAN LANDSCAPES

Seattle: The Stranger Finds the Loophole, But Proposes the Wrong Way of Closing It

Driving Green: LA flush with freeway cap park proposals

Urban Nation: Australia's Planning Heritage

The Professional Practice Of Landscape Architecture: A Complete Guide To Starting And Running Your Own Firm

Master of Architecture, Urban Design, University of Delhi, India

Contemporary urban design emerged as a discipline in response to changes to the city through the Modern movement in Architecture and Planning. Urban Design takes the responsibility of achieving wholeness of the built environment. This degree programme exposes the students to various theories and experiments that architects, planners, social and behavioral scientists apply within the broad historical, social and political contexts. The programme imparts knowledge and skills of design and intervention in the built urban environment at varying scales through a broad range of subjects, which form the basis to tackle urban design issues.
Bulk of the instruction and training in this urban design programme is offered through interactive design studios where the dynamics of growth and change in Indian cities are documented and design solutions are prepared. In this programme, inner city renewal as well as growth areas of contemporary cities receive equal attention in these studios.

more master degrees: