Using triangulation to assess a suite of tools to measure community severance

Jennifer S Mindell,Paulo R Anciaes,Ashley Dhanani,Jemima Stockton,Peter Jones,Muki Haklay,Nora Groce,Shaun Scholes,Laura Vaughan

doi:10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2017.02.013

Jennifer S Mindell, Paulo R Anciaes + Show 7 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2017.02.013

Copy DOI

Abstract

There is a lack of tools to identify and measure community severance caused by large roads and motorised traffic, despite the evidence of its negative impacts on local communities. This paper reports the development of a suite of tools to measure and value community severance, undertaken as a part of the Street Mobility and Network Accessibility research project. The tools include participatory mapping, spatial analysis, a video survey, street audits, a health and neighbourhood mobility survey, and a valuation tool based on a stated preference survey. They were tested in the area around Finchley Road, a busy arterial road in North London. The study found that Finchley Road is an unpleasant place for pedestrians due to high traffic levels, air and noise pollution, and the lack and poor quality of pedestrian crossing facilities. This has a negative impact on the mobility and accessibility of local residents and, to some extent, on their health and wellbeing. The analysis showed coherence between the findings from the different measurement tools applied individually, but also revealed interconnections between factors which contribute to severance, demonstrating that overall the suite is reliable for assessing community severance in urban areas. Overall, the paper provides a multidisciplinary approach to developing standardised methods to measure a negative impact of transport that is still relatively unknown.

Highlights

Community severance occurs when transport infrastructure and/or the speed or volume of traffic interferes with the ability of individuals to access goods, services, and personal networks
This paper summarises the development of these tools and their validation through triangulation of findings in a case study arterial road in North London
We selected a range of approaches from different disciplines to identify, and where possible quantify, community severance: participatory mapping, spatial analysis, a video survey, street audits, a health and neighbourhood mobility survey, and a stated preference survey

Summary

Introduction

Community severance occurs when transport infrastructure and/or the speed or volume of traffic interferes with the ability of individuals to access goods, services, and personal networks. We propose a broader definition which takes account of the wider spatial and social processes which shape the impact of community severance on people and their area over time, as follows:. Restricted-access transport infrastructure, such as motorways (Olsen et al, 2016; Foley et al, 2016) and railways (Chang et al, 2014; Lee and Sohn, 2014), tend to be a more absolute barrier to pedestrians' mobility. Authors such as Jacobs (1961) and Héran Authors such as Jacobs (1961) and Héran (2011, p. 75–77) mention the urban fragmentation caused by all large transport infrastructure, including ports, airports, railway stations, goods yards, canals, and car parking areas

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion