Download or read book Study of Environmental Variables Affecting Walkability written by Xitong Li and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Walking has widely been considered by researchers to be important for physical health and a key to increasing social interactions in the local community (Layden, 2003), as well as a mode of transportation in such an era of high fossil fuel price (Maibach, 2009). The negative effects of low-density, automobile-dependent, segregated-use patterns of land and transportation systems typical of postwar suburban development are attracting public health attention. As a result, more designers and urban planners are beginning to take the concept of "walkable design" into consideration in their projects. In order to promote walking activity in terms of urban design, potential needs of study on the relationship between physical environmental variables and an individual's walking activities have been identified by many researchers (Saelens et al., 2003; Brownson et al., 2009). The purpose of this research is to study the impact of environmental variables affecting walkability on Main Street downtown Fort Worth. This research identifies the environmental variables accounted in design literature, and assesses their impacts on the relationship between walking activity and build environment on Main Street, Fort Worth. A comprehensive literature review has been done on the associations between environmental variables and walking activity, as well as the measures for walkability level. This research adopts quantitative methods (Deming and Swaffield, 2011) to understand environmental variables impacting walkability on Main Street, Fort Worth. Data collection methods primarily involve walkthrough survey (Lynch, 1959; Gupte, 2009) of 25 users who are selected as a result of convenient sampling. The research also uses passive observation techniques (Francis, 2002), and review of secondary and archival data with the Graphic Information Systems (GIS) to further delineate physical environment in downtown Fort Worth. The data analysis is the triangulation (Cohen and Manion, 1986) of the data collected from various sources to identify and asses varying impacts of environmental variables. The results of the research show the various environmental variables and conditions of the built environment influence walking activity in the case of Main Street Fort Worth. Results of the study indicate that environmental variables such as fenestration, the dimension of sidewalk and presence of retail affecting walkability the most on Main Street. The findings from this research provide insight into how landscape architects can better understand the interaction between the built environment and walking behavior in influencing each other. This research can help landscape architects and other design professionals in their future design projects to develop and choose more walkable urban design alternatives by predicting walking activity and providing suggestions on improvements of walkable urban spaces.
Download or read book Walkability and built environment written by Sujan Shrestha and published by GRIN Verlag. This book was released on 2020-08-19 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Master's Thesis from the year 2020 in the subject Art - Architecture / History of Construction, Deakin University, language: English, abstract: Car-centric urban design practice, the principle with which most cities in the world are being built today or since mid-century of 20th century, is affecting the essence of human-scale design or pedestrian friendly/ walkable friendly design. With the rise of numerous problems already in the world with excessive use of non-renewable energy, the talks and discussions are being conducted for the ways of reduction of use of non-renewable energy on global basis, or for the formulation of alternative ways of high use of energy. Not only from problems-related-with-energy perspective, but from social, health, and economic viewpoint as well, just prioritising car-driven approach seems to no longer serve the built environment in a positive way. Several planners, designers and built environment professionals have put forwarded words to re-think about the way urban environments are being built today, and new approaches of prioritising from human-scale perspective i.e. pedestrian or walkable friendly built environment to be explored and given a thought. This research paper concentrates on investigating the deeper understanding about walkable friendly urban environment, the need of today's world. In this paper, framework that shows the relationship of walking activity and behaviour with surrounding physical features, is derived from literature review for the systematic visual assessment. There is no clear and a comprehensive understanding about one particular way that depicts influencing factors of walkability, the corelates between the urban environment and walking behaviour not explained clearly, or if explained the method is somewhat complex and inflexible. Throughout existing knowledge in literature, there is lack of one consistent method of assessment. This research has attempted in finding simpler methods/solution, incorporating with existing knowledge and methods to investigate underlying factors possibly informing about the degree of walkability scale of an urban environment. The study of observation is done on the commercial streets in the central Geelong with the selection of variety of streets form and functions.
Download or read book U S Health in International Perspective written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2013-04-12 with total page 421 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The United States is among the wealthiest nations in the world, but it is far from the healthiest. Although life expectancy and survival rates in the United States have improved dramatically over the past century, Americans live shorter lives and experience more injuries and illnesses than people in other high-income countries. The U.S. health disadvantage cannot be attributed solely to the adverse health status of racial or ethnic minorities or poor people: even highly advantaged Americans are in worse health than their counterparts in other, "peer" countries. In light of the new and growing evidence about the U.S. health disadvantage, the National Institutes of Health asked the National Research Council (NRC) and the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to convene a panel of experts to study the issue. The Panel on Understanding Cross-National Health Differences Among High-Income Countries examined whether the U.S. health disadvantage exists across the life span, considered potential explanations, and assessed the larger implications of the findings. U.S. Health in International Perspective presents detailed evidence on the issue, explores the possible explanations for the shorter and less healthy lives of Americans than those of people in comparable countries, and recommends actions by both government and nongovernment agencies and organizations to address the U.S. health disadvantage.
Download or read book The physical environment and health Implications for the planning and management of healthy cities written by Linchuan Yang and published by Frontiers Media SA. This book was released on 2023-08-30 with total page 1001 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Classification Data Analysis and Data Highways written by Ingo Balderjahn and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-03-12 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume presents 43 articles dealing with models and methods of data analysis and classification, statistics and stochastics, information systems and WWW- and Internet-related topics as well as many applications. These articles are selected from more than 100 papers presented at the 21st Annual Conference of the Gesellschaft für Klassifikation. Based on the submitted and revised papers six sections have been arranged: - Classification and Data Analysis - Mathematical and Statistical Methods - World Wide Web and the Internet - Speech and Pattern Recognition - Marketing.
Download or read book Intelligent Transportation and Planning Breakthroughs in Research and Practice written by Management Association, Information Resources and published by IGI Global. This book was released on 2018-02-02 with total page 1134 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From driverless cars to vehicular networks, recent technological advances are being employed to increase road safety and improve driver satisfaction. As with any newly developed technology, researchers must take care to address all concerns, limitations, and dangers before widespread public adoption. Intelligent Transportation and Planning: Breakthroughs in Research and Practice is an innovative reference source for the latest academic material on the applications, management, and planning of intelligent transportation systems. Highlighting a range of topics, such as automatic control, infrastructure systems, and system architecture, this publication is ideally designed for engineers, academics, professionals, and practitioners actively involved in the transportation planning sector.
Download or read book Comparing Walkability of Ethnically Diverse Low income Neighborhoods of Sacramento California written by Ellen Seeley and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Communities in Action written by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2017-04-27 with total page 583 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the United States, some populations suffer from far greater disparities in health than others. Those disparities are caused not only by fundamental differences in health status across segments of the population, but also because of inequities in factors that impact health status, so-called determinants of health. Only part of an individual's health status depends on his or her behavior and choice; community-wide problems like poverty, unemployment, poor education, inadequate housing, poor public transportation, interpersonal violence, and decaying neighborhoods also contribute to health inequities, as well as the historic and ongoing interplay of structures, policies, and norms that shape lives. When these factors are not optimal in a community, it does not mean they are intractable: such inequities can be mitigated by social policies that can shape health in powerful ways. Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity seeks to delineate the causes of and the solutions to health inequities in the United States. This report focuses on what communities can do to promote health equity, what actions are needed by the many and varied stakeholders that are part of communities or support them, as well as the root causes and structural barriers that need to be overcome.
Download or read book Engineering Tools and Solutions for Sustainable Transportation Planning written by Knoflacher, Hermann and published by IGI Global. This book was released on 2017-02-14 with total page 394 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While modern cities continue to grow and become more efficient in many sectors as their population increases, public transportation has not yet caught up. As a significant industry in contemporary society, further progress in transportation systems is more vital than ever. Engineering Tools and Solutions for Sustainable Transportation Planning is an informative reference source that outlines why current transportation systems have become inefficient in modern societies, and offers solutions for the improvement of transportation infrastructures. Highlighting key topics such as parking organization, car ownership, energy consumption, and highway performance, this is a detailed resource for all practitioners, academics, graduate students, and researchers that are interested in studying the latest trends and developments in the transportation sector.
Download or read book Does the Built Environment Influence Physical Activity written by Transportation Research Board and published by Transportation Research Board. This book was released on 2005-01-11 with total page 269 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: TRB Special Report 282: Does the Built Environment Influence Physical Activity? Examining the Evidence reviews the broad trends affecting the relationships among physical activity, health, transportation, and land use; summarizes what is known about these relationships, including the strength and magnitude of any causal connections; examines implications for policy; and recommends priorities for future research.
Download or read book Measuring Urban Design written by Reid Ewing and published by Island Press. This book was released on 2013-07-20 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What makes strolling down a particular street enjoyable? The authors of Measuring Urban Design argue it's not an idle question. Inviting streets are the centerpiece of thriving, sustainable communities, but it can be difficult to pinpoint the precise design elements that make an area appealing. This accessible guide removes the mystery, providing clear methods to measure urban design. In recent years, many "walking audit instruments" have been developed to measure qualities like building height, block length, and sidewalk width. But while easily quantifiable, these physical features do not fully capture the experience of walking down a street. In contrast, this book addresses broad perceptions of street environments. It provides operational definitions and measurement protocols of five intangible qualities of urban design, specifically imageability, visual enclosure, human scale, transparency, and complexity. The result is a reliable field survey instrument grounded in constructs from architecture, urban design, and planning. Readers will also find a case study applying the instrument to 588 streets in New York City, which shows that it can be used effectively to measure the built environment's impact on social, psychological, and physical well-being. Finally, readers will find illustrated, step-by-step instructions to use the instrument and a scoring sheet for easy calculation of urban design quality scores. For the first time, researchers, designers, planners, and lay people have an empirically tested tool to measure those elusive qualities that make us want to take a stroll. Urban policymakers and planners as well as students in urban policy, design, and environmental health will find the tools and methods in Measuring Urban Design especially useful.
Download or read book Advances in Construction Materials and Sustainable Environment written by Ashok Kumar Gupta and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-12-14 with total page 1041 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book comprises select papers presented at the International Conference on Construction Materials and Environment (ICCME 2020). The topics discussed revolve around the identification and utilization of novel construction materials primarily in the areas of structural engineering, geotechnical engineering, transportation engineering, and environmental engineering. The volume presents a compilation of thoroughly studied and utilized sustainable construction materials in different areas of civil engineering. Newly developed testing methodologies, physical modelling methods, numerical studies, and other latest techniques discussed in this book can prove to be useful for researchers and practitioners across the globe.
Download or read book Access for All written by K. H. Schaeffer and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 1980 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Chronic Disease written by and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 118 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Streets and the Shaping of Towns and Cities written by Michael Southworth and published by Island Press. This book was released on 2013-04-22 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The topic of streets and street design is of compelling interest today as public officials, developers, and community activists seek to reshape urban patterns to achieve more sustainable forms of growth and development. Streets and the Shaping of Towns and Cities traces ideas about street design and layout back to the early industrial era in London suburbs and then on through their institutionalization in housing and transportation planning in the United States. It critiques the situation we are in and suggests some ways out that are less rigidly controlled, more flexible, and responsive to local conditions. Originally published in 1997, this edition includes a new introduction that addresses topics of current interest including revised standards from the Institute of Transportation Engineers; changes in city plans and development standards following New Urbanist, Smart Growth, and sustainability principles; traffic calming; and ecologically oriented street design.
Download or read book Landscape Urbanism and Green Infrastructure written by Thomas Panagopoulos and published by MDPI. This book was released on 2019-08-19 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume examines the applicability of landscape urbanism theory in contemporary landscape architecture practice by bringing together ecology and architecture in the built environment. Using participatory planning of green infrastructure and application of nature-based solutions to address urban challenges, landscape urbanism seeks to reintroduce critical connections between natural and urban systems. In light of ongoing developments in landscape architecture, the goal is a paradigm shift towards a landscape that restores and rehabilitates urban ecosystems. Nine contributions examine a wide range of successful cases of designing livable and resilient cities in different geographical contexts, from the United States of America to Australia and Japan, and through several European cities in Italy, Portugal, Estonia, and Greece. While some chapters attempt to conceptualize the interconnections between cities and nature, others clearly have an empirical focus. Efforts such as the use of ornamental helophyte plants in bioretention ponds to reduce and treat stormwater runoff, the recovery of a poorly constructed urban waterway or participatory approaches for optimizing the location of green stormwater infrastructure and examining the environmental justice issue of equative availability and accessibility to public open spaces make these innovations explicit. Thus, this volume contributes to the sustainable cities goal of the United Nations.
Download or read book Building Ecology written by Peter Graham and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2009-02-12 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Buildings consume 40% of our planet’s materials and 30% of its energy. Their construction uses up to three million tonnes of raw materials a year and generates 20% of the soild waste stream. If we want to survive our urban future, there is no option but to build in ways which improve the health of ecosystems. Understanding the concept of ecological sustainability and translating it into practice as sustainable development is a key challenge for today’s built environment professionals. The skill and vision of those who shape our cities and homes is vital to achieving sustainable solutions to the many environmental, economic and social problems we face on a local, national and global scale. Peter Graham offers here a holistic view of ecologically sustainable building by drawing on established areas of knowledge, demonstrating their relevance to the environmentally-conscious building professional and putting the process, product and impact of building into context. Case studies illustrate how sustainable principles have been applied successfully and discussion topics are offered to stimulate thought. Building Ecology will help planners, surveyors, designers and builders to incorporate sustainability into their everyday practice by: · showing which styles of building are ecologically sustainable · providing fundamental knowledge for making decisions using the principles of ecologically sustainable building · explaining a complex subject in a clear, balanced way. Building Ecology sets out the current scientific view of how nature works and how buildings link with and affect nature. It provides fundamental knowledge for building in harmony with nature and keeping Earth’s life-supporting ecosystems healthy.
