Commercial Land Use Research Articles

Land use perception of self-reported health: Exploratory analysis of anthropogenic land use phenotypes

This paper investigates the spatial heterogeneity of self-reported health in the Greater Toronto Area in relation to its land use. This is implemented by means of local spatial autocorrelation of response types of the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) and land use. Spatial heterogeneity was tested by assessment of the stratified responses of the survey, ranging from excellent to poor. A total of 8212 collected surveys from the CCHS master file for 2010 were used. Georeferenced surveys were agglomerated at census tract level, and spatial autocorrelation followed assessing of frequency distribution. The geography of the hotpots of surveys per response type was conducted. The resulting hotspots were compared to the properties of their land use types as to understand what the influence on surrounding land use on self-reported health is. A significant spatial autocorrelation exists over the region area concerning health perception, forming clusters in certain regions. A negative influence on self-reported health was found in commercial and industrial land use, while open spaces, on the other hands show significantly positive responses. While resource and industrial land use share a negative influence of self-reported health, open spaces and parks and recreational areas may lead to a better health perception. From a landscape and planning perspective, we argue that land use plays a crucial role in the complex social factors of health self-report. Geographic Information Systems and spatial analysis may allow to better understanding the combination of health factors and land use, as to allow a better planning of infrastructure and anthropogenic land use phenotypes for increasing health self-perception and wellbeing in developed countries.

Sustainable Brownfields Land Use Change Modeling Using GIS-based Weights-of-Evidence Approach

Rapid and unorganized urban growth brings about urban sprawl, which leads to the increase in the number of abandoned lands and brownfields within the cities. Revitalization and redevelopment of these areas is one of the key factors of compact urban development to achieve urban sustainability. However, not much research work has been done on the redevelopment of brownfield on the base of compact urban development paradigm in the recent literature. Most researches on this field have mainly considered a single brownfield site for redevelopment on the bases of local neighborhood demand and characteristics. The current paper proposes a brownfields land use change modeling process according to a compact city paradigm in a larger scale perspectives rather than local aspects. The proposed model is a statistical-based weights-of-evidence (WoE) approach in the GIS environment. The growth of three main land use types in Kajang city, Malaysia was predicted using several compact development parameters and other urban and physical site characteristics. Maps that have been created with this process were validated by actual growth maps of these land use types using an area under curve (AUC) technique. The AUC of residential, commercial and industrial land use were gained as 77.4, 78, and 67 %, respectively. Finally, these maps were aggregated with an existing brownfields map in order to project future land use types according to planning strategies, as well as compact development characteristics. Results indicate that according to potential and suitability of the site and neighborhood properties, each brownfield can serve the community as single or mixture of several land use types. It is concluded that the combination of land use change modeling techniques and compact urban development theory in GIS environment can provide a strong tool for brownfields redevelopment planning and strategies.

How Land Use Affects Station Access Behaviors of Bus Rapid Transit Passengers in Bangkok, Thailand

This paper provides empirical evidence on ways commuters access bus rapid transit (BRT) stations in Bangkok, Thailand. It is hypothesized that land use characteristics in areas near BRT stations affect passengers’ travel behavior, particularly the station access portion of the trip. The authors conducted interview surveys of BRT commuters and another survey of land use and transport network characteristics around BRT stations. It was found that the three most widely used modes of access were walking, motorcycle taxi, and bus, with average access distances of 373, 1,040, and 7,076 m, respectively. In addition, the logistic regression technique was used to model walking access mode choice as a function of land use characteristics around stations where passengers boarded the BRT, controlling socioeconomic and trip characteristics. It was found that land use characteristics, including residential, commercial, service, retail, and financial land use intensity in BRT station areas, affected passengers’ tendency to walk to BRT stations. The extent of the catchment area and the determinants of travel behavior have important implications for land use and transportation policies that aim to promote transit-oriented development, particularly those that allow for greater building density around transit stations.

Danger Zone: The Causal Effects of High-Density and Mixed-Use Development on Neighborhood Crime

Since the seminal work of Jane Jacobs, it has become conventional wisdom among scholars and professional planners that high residential density and mixed commercial and residential land use reduce street crime. This notion has been influential in guiding planning decisions, but empirical evidence is limited. This paper examines the impact of mixed land use and residential density on crime using a unique high-resolution dataset from Chicago over the period 2008-2013. I employ a novel instrumental variable strategy based on the city's 1923 zoning code. I find that commercial uses, especially liquor stores and late-hour bars, lead to more street crime in their immediate vicinity, with relatively weak spillover effects. Higher residential density leads to lower per capita crime rates and ameliorates the criminogenic externalities of commercial activity. I discuss the implications for zoning policy and policing strategy.

Development of a land use extraction expert system through morphological and spatial arrangement analysis

Land use (LU) information is of significant value for various urban studies and is needed for a wide variety of decision-making initiatives in the range of global, regional and urban areas. A challenge that researchers and practitioners have been facing in urban modeling/planning is the lack of detailed information regarding how cities are structured and how urban development evolves. This study aims to develop a hierarchical rule-based LU extraction framework using geographic vector and remotely sensed (RS) data, in order to extract detailed subzonal LU information. The LU extraction system, which considers both morphological and spatial arrangement analyses at a fine spatial level – parcel, is developed to understand association/correlation rules between different urban features and their corresponding LU structures. In this study, structures and patterns of residential and commercial LUs are scrutinized. Residential and commercial LUs are first extracted by examining the morphological properties of individual parcels using a stepwise binary logistic models, which results in an overall accuracy of 97.5% and 92.4% respectively. A spatial arrangement analysis is then carried out through Gabriel Graph to identify structural patterns of residential and commercial parcels in order to cluster and separate them from other LUs. Extracting residential and commercial clusters helps to correct misclassifications arising from morphological analysis. The post-correction process results in improving the overall LU extraction accuracy by 1.6% for residential and 4.8% for commercial LU. The above exercises show that the LU classification framework developed can classify and then divide large zones with mixed LUs into single-LU subzones with a high accuracy.

Housing finance reform in Mexico: the impact of housing vacancy on property crime

Since 2000, the numbers of vacant housing units have increased dramatically in many parts of Mexico. Much of this has been tied to the liberalisation of the housing market where private homebuilders play an important role in the production of housing and the role of public sector is limited to the support of housing finance. Public debates concerning the regulation of private sector homebuilders as well as the practices and policies of government lending agencies have hinged on housing overproduction and vacancy rates in recent years, with the latter associated with social problems in many cities. This paper explicitly examines the relationship between vacancy rate and levels of property crime (burglaries) in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico. Along with data from the Population and Housing Census, the State Public Security Office data for the 2008–2009 period on property crimes (burglary), were geocoded, mapped and aggregated to the census-tract level. The ordinary least square regression results show that there are significant local variations in the relationships between the risk of property crimes and the percentage of vacant housing units, commercial and service land use and residents who are male aged 15–24. The findings strongly link housing overproduction with vacancy rates and crime, and suggest that private sector homebuilders and the mortgage allocation system should be more strongly regulated in Mexico.

Characteristics of the built environment in relation to objectively measured physical activity among Mexican adults, 2011.

IntroductionThe built environment correlates of physical activity are documented in high-income countries but have yet to be studied among Mexican adults. Our objectives were to assess the associations between characteristics of the built environment and physical activity among adults in Cuernavaca, Mexico, and to examine potential moderation by perceived park and neighborhood safety.MethodsWe conducted a population-based study of adults in Cuernavaca, Mexico, in 2011 (N = 677). Participants wore Actigraph GT3X accelerometers for 7 days. We used geographic information systems (GIS) to generate 500-m- and 1-km-buffer–based measures of net residential density, proportion of commercial land use, land-use mix, connectivity, walkability, and number of parks and transit routes. We also obtained data on distance to the nearest park with GIS. Perceived neighborhood and park safety were self-reported. We created quartile-based categories for all built environment characteristics and ran linear regression models to estimate the association between each characteristic and total weekly moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and MVPA within 10-minute bouts.ResultsWalkability was inversely related to total weekly minutes of MVPA (1-km buffer, −46.9 [standard error, 20.0]; P = .03) and weekly minutes of MVPA within bouts (500-m buffer, −31.5 [12.9]; P = .02). The number of transit routes in the 500-m buffer was inversely related to total weekly minutes of MVPA (−23.8 [10.6]; P = .04). Perception of park safety moderated the association between physical activity and having a park intersect the 500-m buffer.ConclusionOur findings contrast with those from high-income countries, suggesting that environmental programs and policies to increase physical activity in Mexican cities cannot be adapted from high-income countries without considering the local context.

Towards a general theory of mixed zones: The role of congestion

Mixed commercial and residential land use is observed in most cities around the world. Despite its ubiquity, urban economic theory is rather silent on the formation of mixed land use. In particular, standard bid rent models typically predict complete segregation of land use. The two main exceptions are Fujita and Ogawa (1982) and Lucas and Rossi-Hansberg (2002), who introduce bid rent models that allow for endogenous business and residential location choice as well as employment agglomeration externalities. These models predict zones that are characterized by a restrictive type of mixed land use, where there are as many residents as jobs at every location. We extend the latter model by introducing a traffic congestion external effect that adds a degree of freedom to the shape of the bid rent curves, and allows them to coincide over contiguous locations in the city where commuting takes place. We show that this combination of congestion and agglomeration externalities leads to a general type of mixed land use zones.

Urbanization and Quality of Stormwater Runoff: Remote Sensing Measurements of Land Cover in an Arid City

The intensity of stormwater runoff is particularly acute across cities located in arid climates. During flash floods loose sediment and pollutants are typically transported across sun-hardened surfaces contributing to widespread degradation of water quality. Rapid, dense urbanization exacerbates the problem by creating continuous areas of impervious surfaces, perforated only by a few green patches. Our work demonstrates how the latest techniques in remote sensing can be used to routinely measure urban land cover types, impervious cover, and vegetated areas. In addition, multiple regression models can then infer relationships between urban land use and land cover types with stormwater quality data, initially sampled at discrete monitoring sites, and then extrapolated annually across an arid city; in our case, the city of Phoenix in Arizona, USA. Results reveal that from 30 storm event samples, solids and heavy metal pollutants were found to be highly related with general impervious surfaces; in particular, with industrial and commercial land use types. Repercussions stemming from this work include support for public policies that advocate environmental sustainability and the more recent focus on urban livability. Also, advocacy for new urban construction and re-development that both steer away from vast unbroken impervious surfaces, in place of more fragmented landscapes that harmonize built and green spaces.

Location analysis of retail stores in Changchun, China: A street centrality perspective

This paper examines the location pattern of various retail stores in Changchun, China. The centrographic method, the nearest neighbor index and the proximity to CBD are used to provide some baseline analyses of their spatial distributions. Major findings are derived from the street centrality indices measured in terms of a node’s closeness, betweenness and straightness on the road network. The kernel density estimation (KDE) converts both store locations and centrality values at nodes to one unit (raster pixel) for correlation analysis. Results indicate that street centrality captures location advantage in a city and plays a crucial role in shaping the intraurban variation of commercial land use intensity. Specifically, specialty stores value various centralities most, followed by department stores, supermarkets, consumer product stores, furniture stores, and construction material stores. Among the stores with correlation coefficients above 0.5, specialty stores favor closeness most, department stores and supermarkets prefer betweenness, and consumer product stores value straightness most.

Prediction of Mymensingh Town Future Expansion Using Space Syntax

Urban space changes according to different space use with the passage of time, as seen in land use, location, and land value distribution. The paper intends to analyze the change of integration core related to the growth of commercial land use through different time periods. Two phases of Commercial land-use pattern is studied. The phases are i) 1974, ii) 2013. The entire spatial structure of the commercial land use of Mymensingh reacts to the entire city system, particularly the road network pattern. In this context, this study aims to identify the influence spatial configuration exerts on the location of different types of commercial activity in terms of land use. The results of this study will help to interpret and predict the future commercial land use related to its road network. In this paper the process was conducted in the following steps: Step-01: A field survey was conducted to collect data regarding locations of commercial activity,Step-02: Land-use maps of two phases were collected to analyze the relation between commercial activity and road network,Step-03: Space syntax theory was applied to simulate the data to analyze the relationship and Step-04: Proposition.

Walking for Purpose and Pleasure

Planners are increasingly promoting active travel as a strategy to reduce auto dependence and encourage physical activity. That rail transit promotes walking to the extent that passengers typically access stations by walking is evident. However, few studies focus on the carryover effect of light rail and associated built environment features on additional pedestrian travel. This study explored the effects of light rail and the built environment on the frequency of utilitarian walking (shopping trips) and recreational walking (strolling) from 1,303 randomly surveyed residents in five corridors in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Results from two negative binomial regression models showed that after controlling for demographics, travel attitudes, and residential preferences, walking to the store was significantly associated with population density, proximity to commercial land use, and street network interruptions (cul-de-sacs and dead-end streets). Strolling was also associated with street network interruptions. The findings carry important implications for planners to capitalize on built environment improvements around new light rail projects to increase rates of walking.

Biodiversity Resources Law and Policy for Sustainable Development in Nigeria

In recent times, particularly over the last two and half decades, the African continent, where Nigeria is located, has experienced serious food insecurity and other manifestations of poverty which are partly due to environmental degradation. Loss of biodiversity is one of the forms of such degradation, and it has been due to various causes that are linked to excess demand for biological resources, as compared to the supply of these resources. There is only a limited supply of biological resources to meet the needs of growing populations of urbanizing communities and of global trade. In some cases the demands made of species and ecosystems far exceed their natural rates of regeneration. Over exploitation thus results, leading to the collapse of certain biological systems.There are many threats to Africa’s biological diversity, and the following are now well recognized. i. Population and migration pressure; ii. Inappropriate agricultural method; iii. Commercial land use practices; iv. Over-harvesting of natural resources; v. Climate changes; vi. Introduction of invasive, alien species.Further, land-based marine pollution, as well as pollution from vessels, leads to the degradation of waters that support marine life, and this poses a serious threat to marine biodiversity.Africa’s economic and social welfare is thus integrally linked to the prevailing state of its biological diversity. Its countries, like Nigeria, therefore, have a profound interest in the good management and sustainable utilization of biological diversity.International concern for the sustainability of human development activities has led to the adaptation of hundreds of environmental conventions. The objective of these conventions deals, to a greater or lesser degree, with the subject of biodiversity conservation.It is considered that the existing international biodiversity law, meritorious as it may be, has to be lodged within the sovereign legal machinery of states parties, in order to have an effective application. So long as the biodiversity conservation principles rest only at the level of international law, national legislatures, executives and Judiciaries may not consider themselves obliged to apply all of them. The principles must be domesticated in the individual African countries, if they are to be assured of implementation.It is against this background this paper aims at realizing the following objectives: 1. To ascertain biodiversity components, the status of biodiversity conservation and issues of threats to Nigeria’s biodiversity; 2. To appraise the existing legal and regulatory frameworks regarding biodiversity conservation in Nigeria. 3. To examine the problems associated with conservation and utilization of biodiversity resources and of the inadequacies of the existing legal and regulatory frameworks; 4. To identify the challenges of sustainable human development in the context of biodiversity conservation, and of the implementation of Biodiversity conventions in Nigeria; and 5. To conclude with some viable options for Nigeria in particular and Africa in general.

Statistical Evaluation of Variables Affecting Occurrence of Hydrocarbons in Aquifers Used for Public Supply, California

AbstractThe variables affecting the occurrence of hydrocarbons in aquifers used for public supply in California were assessed based on statistical evaluation of three large statewide datasets; gasoline oxygenates also were analyzed for comparison with hydrocarbons. Benzene is the most frequently detected (1.7%) compound among 17 hydrocarbons analyzed at generally low concentrations (median detected concentration 0.024 μg/l) in groundwater used for public supply in California; methyl tert‐butyl ether (MTBE) is the most frequently detected (5.8%) compound among seven oxygenates analyzed (median detected concentration 0.1 μg/l). At aquifer depths used for public supply, hydrocarbons and MTBE rarely co‐occur and are generally related to different variables; in shallower groundwater, co‐occurrence is more frequent and there are similar relations to the density or proximity of potential sources. Benzene concentrations are most strongly correlated with reducing conditions, regardless of groundwater age and depth. Multiple lines of evidence indicate that benzene and other hydrocarbons detected in old, deep, and/or brackish groundwater result from geogenic sources of oil and gas. However, in recently recharged (since ~1950), generally shallower groundwater, higher concentrations and detection frequencies of benzene and hydrocarbons were associated with a greater proportion of commercial land use surrounding the well, likely reflecting effects of anthropogenic sources, particularly in combination with reducing conditions.

Spatiotemporal Landscape Pattern Change in Response to Future Urbanisation in Maricopa County, Arizona, USA

Urban growth combined with increasing population modifies landscape structure and functions at various scales. Identifying the accumulated effects of urbanisation on landscape composition and configuration over time is crucial to anticipate the functional change of altered landscape and to gauge landscape sustainability. Focusing on critical ecosystems, this study aims to understand how landscape patterns will evolve in response to the proposed development plans in Maricopa County, Arizona. Two primary GIS data layers were developed including the urban ecosystem layer with different natural land cover types (e.g. desert shrub, grassland, green space, and agriculture) and the urbanisation layer with residential, commercial, and recreational land use. To examine the spatiotemporal pattern change, urbanisation scenarios were designed with a basis on development status and implementation certainty, along with landscape metrics calculation. The findings demonstrated how the landscape metrics behave differently across different urbanisation conditions and which type of landscape will be most likely sensitive to future urbanisation processes. The study provides significant implications for landscape planning and guides planners to seek more optimal alternatives among various policy decisions.

The People Paradox

U.S. land-use regulators are increasingly embracing mixed-land-use “urban” neighborhoods, rather than single-land-use “suburban” ones, as a planning ideal. This shift away from traditional regulatory practice reflects a growing endorsement of Jane Jacobs’s influential argument that mixed-land-use urban neighborhoods are safer and more socially cohesive than single-land-use suburban ones. Proponents of regulatory reforms encouraging greater mixing of residential and commercial land uses, however, completely disregard a sizable empirical literature suggesting that commercial land use generates, rather than suppress, crime and disorder, and that suburban communities have higher levels of social capital than urban communities. This Article constructs a case for mixed-land-use planning that tackles the uncomfortable reality that these studies present. That case is built upon an apparent paradox: in urban communities, people do not, apparently, make us safer. But they do make us feel safer. This “People Paradox” suggests that, despite an apparent tension between city busyness and safety, land-use regulations that enable mixed-land-use neighborhoods may advance several important urban development goals. It also suggests an often-overlooked connection between land-use and policing policies.

Land-use and socio-economics as determinants of traffic emissions and individual exposure to air pollution

This paper presents a modeling framework developed for the City of Montreal, Canada, and is intended to quantify two indicators that can explain the spatial distribution of traffic-related air pollution at a metropolitan level. The indicators are estimated at the level of the traffic analysis zone (TAZ) and include: (1) the average level of emissions generated per individual and (2) the level of emissions occurring in a zone as a proxy for air pollution exposure. A regional traffic assignment model is extended with capabilities for emission modeling at an individual trip level while taking into account vehicle (type and age) and trip attributes (road type, speed, and volume). We observe that individuals who generate higher emissions from travel tend to reside in areas with lower exposure to traffic emissions while individuals associated with low levels of travel emissions (e.g. travel smaller distances, conduct less trips, and use alternative modes) reside in areas with high levels of traffic pollution. A regression analysis of the two indicators against a set of land-use and socio-economic variables shows that generated emissions per individual are positively associated with car ownership and larger vehicles, while being negatively associated with ownership of newer vehicles, and location in dense and walkable neighborhoods with high levels of commercial land-use. Meanwhile, exposure to emissions is positively associated with dense and walkable neighborhoods and negatively associated with car ownership and larger vehicles. These findings indicate major inequities in the generation of and exposure to traffic-related air pollution.

Cyclist activity and injury risk analysis at signalized intersections: A Bayesian modelling approach

This study proposes a two-equation Bayesian modelling approach to simultaneously study cyclist injury occurrence and bicycle activity at signalized intersections as joint outcomes. This approach deals with the potential presence of endogeneity and unobserved heterogeneities and is used to identify factors associated with both cyclist injuries and volumes. Its application to identify high-risk corridors is also illustrated. Montreal, Quebec, Canada is the application environment, using an extensive inventory of a large sample of signalized intersections containing disaggregate motor-vehicle traffic volumes and bicycle flows, geometric design, traffic control and built environment characteristics in the vicinity of the intersections. Cyclist injury data for the period of 2003–2008 is used in this study. Also, manual bicycle counts were standardized using temporal and weather adjustment factors to obtain average annual daily volumes. Results confirm and quantify the effects of both bicycle and motor-vehicle flows on cyclist injury occurrence. Accordingly, more cyclists at an intersection translate into more cyclist injuries but lower injury rates due to the non-linear association between bicycle volume and injury occurrence. Furthermore, the results emphasize the importance of turning motor-vehicle movements. The presence of bus stops and total crosswalk length increase cyclist injury occurrence whereas the presence of a raised median has the opposite effect. Bicycle activity through intersections was found to increase as employment, number of metro stations, land use mix, area of commercial land use type, length of bicycle facilities and the presence of schools within 50–800m of the intersection increase. Intersections with three approaches are expected to have fewer cyclists than those with four. Using Bayesian analysis, expected injury frequency and injury rates were estimated for each intersection and used to rank corridors. Corridors with high bicycle volumes, located mainly in the central neighbourhoods of Montreal, have lower risk of injury. These results may reflect the “safety in numbers” hypothesis or cyclist preference towards safer intersections and corridors. Despite these corridors having a lower individual risk, they are nevertheless associated with a greater number of injuries.

도시지역의 사회구조적 특성과 살인범죄와의 인과관계 : 서울시 행정동을 중심으로

This study attempted to test the causal effect of structural characteristics of metropolitan neighborhoods on crime, based on the ecological model of crime explanation. To this end, a Negative Binomial Regression analysis was performed for Seoul`s 424 Dong Districts. Results showed that the incidence of homicide increases as much as the scales of economic disadvantage, family disruption, and commercial land use go worse. It suggested that family integrity is one of the most strong and consistent factors that could deter crime in neighborhood`s contexts. Economic disadvantage and commercial land use were also critical targets as crime-generating factors. Reasoning with the results of past studies implied that neighborhood-specific approaches need to be developed for effective crime prevention. Although a few limitations could raise a caveat against such interpretation of the results, the value of this research would not be simply denied as the first attempt to utilize all Dong districts of Seoul. It is expected that this study contributes to activating Dong level research and developing effective crime control policy.

THE ELUSIVE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS AND CRIME: AN ASSESSMENT ACROSS DISADVANTAGED AREAS OF THE SOUTH BRONX

Several theoretical perspectives posit a negative association between the extent of a neighborhood's organizational infrastructure and crime; yet, empirical support for this proposition has been limited in that researchers generally examine only a few types of organizations or combine them into one aggregate measure. Studies with few measures may omit organizations that are effective at reducing crime, whereas those using aggregate measures obscure differences across organizations in their ability to control crime. Using data from 74 block groups in the South Bronx, NY, this research seeks to specify more clearly the relationship between organizations and crime in a disadvantaged urban environment. We examine the relationship among nine different types of organizations and violent and property crime controlling for prior crime, land use, and area sociodemographic characteristics. Consistent with theories that highlight the importance of organizations for establishing ties outside the neighborhood, we find that block groups with more organizations that bridge to the larger community experience a decrease in crime. Property crime also is reduced in block groups with more organizations that promote the well‐being of families and children. We find that schools are associated with an increase in property crime, whereas the effects of other organizations are context specific and vary based on neighborhood racial composition, commercial land use, and disadvantage.