Low-density Suburbs Research Articles

The Trans-Pacific Status Seekers: Dialogue and Discontent of Transnational Suburbanization

This paper explores in more depth the role status plays in the transnational process of suburbanizing Taiwan and China. It describes how the social homogenous American suburb is becoming the most influential force within new developments in Taiwan. In particularly, it looks at housing developments for high technology engineers, many of who studied and or lived and worked in the Silicon Valley. It records the stories of these engineer families and these new “model developments” and how status objects like lower density suburbs, homogeneity¸ segregated and gated enclaves removed from existing city centers have arisen in Hsinchu, Taiwan and Shanghai, China.

Can Urban Growth Management Work in an Era of Political and Economic Change?

Problem: Urban growth management policy employs a range of tools to restrain urban sprawl, promote efficient land use, and preserve open space. Yet the efficacy of such policy is widely debated and challenged, necessitating reliable empirical evidence from case studies assessing the historical success (or failure) of such policy. Purpose: We review Israeli national growth management policy over a 36-year period, recording long-term land development trends in order to assess the efficacy of policy. Methods: We integrate a historical analysis of qualitative policy data and quantitative performance indicators of urban spatial development for a selected region of the country. We use a suite of spatial variables indicating amount, distribution, and configuration of built space along with other sprawl-relevant statistical data. Results and conclusions: In the 1970s and 1980s, open space was preserved largely due to agricultural preservation policy, despite demographic and economic growth. During the 1990s, the initiation of growth management policy coincided with a profound proliferation of development and population movement to low-density suburbs. While statistical indicators from the past several years are equivocal, they suggest that policy is encouraging higher-density development and slowing the loss of open space. Takeaway for practice: Urban growth management policy and its impact must be considered within the historical context in which it was implemented. Changes in land use policy in Israel reflect socioeconomic and political changes; when policy did not adapt to changes in society, the results were undesirable. Today, planning tools (e.g., minimum density limits, population size thresholds, urban growth boundaries, and land use fabrics) strike a balance between top-down planning objectives and bottom-up development pressures. The use of these tools within a statutory, national-level plan helps ensure consistency of implementation across regions.

Mobility and Active Ageing in Suburban Environments: Findings from In-Depth Interviews and Person-Based GPS Tracking.

Background. Governments face a significant challenge to ensure that community environments meet the mobility needs of an ageing population. Therefore, it is critical to investigate the effect of suburban environments on the choice of transportation and its relation to participation and active ageing. Objective. This research explores if and how suburban environments impact older people's mobility and their use of different modes of transport. Methods. Data derived from GPS tracking, travel diaries, brief questionnaires, and semistructured interviews were gathered from thirteen people aged from 56 to 87 years, living in low-density suburban environments in Brisbane, Australia. Results. The suburban environment influenced the choice of transportation and out-of-home mobility. Both walkability and public transportation (access and usability) impact older people's transportation choices. Impracticality of active and public transportation within suburban environments creates car dependency in older age. Conclusion. Suburban environments often create barriers to mobility, which impedes older people's engagement in their wider community and ability to actively age in place. Further research is needed to develop approaches towards age-friendly suburban environments which will encourage older people to remain active and engaged in older age.

Business strategies and technology for access by transit in lower density environments

Providing access via public transport in relatively low density suburban environments has been a difficult business challenge for transit operators for the past 40 years. A family of services approach to this problem, a key element of which is providing demand-responsive services, has proven effective for some metropolitan public transport authorities in the USA, of which the Denver authority is notable. The Denver agency has devised innovative service delivery modalities for its DRT services—which range from many to many dial-a-ride operations to structured DRT services to flex-route services—and has also sponsored the development of a technology platform that enables these services to be delivered with appropriate levels of automation and functionality. A set of business principles that linked technology enablement to cost-effective flexible transport services guided these developments. The Denver public transport authority's experiences are used to illustrate the relevance and viability of this approach to supporting transit accessibility.

The collectivization of housing in the low density suburbs. Approaches regarding the regional metropolitan plan

RESUMEN El crecimiento de los suburbios de baja densidad alrededor de las ciudades españolas durante la anterior década plantea un grave problema ambiental. No sólo es su crecimiento en extensión y la consiguiente reducción de áreas agrícolas o forestales lo que es preocupante, sino también la dependencia de sus habitantes del automóvil y la inviabilidad del transporte público. Para minimizar desplazamientos, el Plan Territorial Metropolitano de Barcelona propone inserir focos de densidad en el interior de estas áreas. Sin embargo, el Plan carece de propuestas arquitectónicas concretas; simplemente apunta hacia una dirección. Más allá del criterio ambiental, este artículo utiliza esta propuesta del Plan para reflexionar sobre qué sensibilidades debería respetar la vivienda colectiva suburbial, entendiendo que es desde el habitante y su modo de vivir como debemos empezar a abordar la “colectivización” del suburbio. La aproximación se efectúa mediante la revisión de ejemplos de edificios residenciales surgidos en distintos momentos arquitectónicos del siglo veinte, que resuelven de una u otra forma la relación de la vivienda con un espacio exterior privado, una relación de especial trascendencia para cualquier habitante suburbial. Estos modelos se agrupan en tres conjuntos: las viviendas obreras del primer tercio de siglo, los edificios escalonados generados durante el Movimiento Moderno y los diseños residenciales “inacabados” del tercer mundo. Después de observar los recursos utilizados en estos modelos concluimos con una serie de consideraciones inspiradas, a la vez, en otros ejemplos residenciales más recientes y orientadas a alumbrar el dilema entre densidad y suburbio en la actualidad.SUMMARY The growth of low-density suburbs around Spanish cities during the past decade poses a serious environmental problem. Not only is it the growth in size and the consequent reduction in agricultural or forest areas that are of concern, but also the dependence of the inhabitants on the car and the inadequacy of public transport. To minimize commuting, the Regional Metropolitan Plan of Barcelona proposes to insert density pockets within these areas. However, the Plan has no specific architectural proposals, but simply points towards one direction. Beyond the environmental criteria, this article uses this proposal of the Plan to reflect on what sensitivities suburban collective housing should respect, understanding that it is with the inhabitant and their way of life in mind that we must begin to address the “collectivization” of the suburb. The approach is made by reviewing examples of residential architecture that emerged at different times of the twentieth century which resolved, one way or another, the relationship of the house with a private outdoor space, a relationship of particular importance for any suburban dweller. These models fall into three groups: workers’ housing in the first third of the century, the terraced buildings generated during the Modern Movement and the “unfinished” residential designs of the third world. After looking at the resources used in these models we conclude with a series of inspired considerations, while in other recent residential examples we attempt to illuminate the current dilemma between density and suburb.

Transport for suburbia: beyond the automobile age

In this book, the author sets out to show how planning and politics are essential to the development of high quality public transport systems in the suburbs and the rural areas beyond them. It explains that Switzerland runs effective public transport from low density suburbs with more than 300 residents or jobs, a philosophy contrary to that found in English-speaking countries where low density is given as a reason for not providing effective public transport. Switzerland also considers the recreational requirements of the population and provides transport to hiking trails. It is suggested that to increase the density of suburbs by rebuilding them might take 100 years, a time span too long to respond to concerns fuel availability and climate change. It is suggested that by providing a complete substitute for the car, high quality public transport networks also promote increased walking, and in some cases, cycling. A range of very different urban regions that have managed to provide effective public transport in low-density areas is described. In these cases, public transport imitates the flexibility of the car by knitting different routes and modes into a single, multi-modal network. Transfers between routes are virtually effortless. A critical role in bringing these changes about is ascribed to citizens and their elected representatives.

Sustainable Urban and Transport Development for Transportation Disadvantaged: A Review~!2009-09-21~!2009-12-15~!2010-03-16~!

Around the world, particularly in North America and Australia, urban sprawl combined with low density suburban development has caused serious accessibility and mobility problems, especially for those who do not own a motor vehicle or have access to public transportation services. Sustainable urban and transportation development is seen crucial in solving transportation disadvantage problems in urban settlements. However, current urban and transportation models have not been adequately addressed unsustainable urban transportation problems that transportation disadvantaged groups overwhelmingly encounter, and the negative impacts on the disadvantaged have not been effectively considered. Transportation disadvantaged is a multi-dimensional problem that combines demographic, spatial and transportation service dimensions. Nevertheless, most transportation models focusing on transportation disadvantage only employ demographic and transportation service dimensions and do not take spatial dimension into account. This paper aims to investigate the link between sustainable urban and transportation development and spatial dimension of the transportation disadvantage problem. The paper, for that purpose, provides a thorough review of the literature and identifies a set of urban, development and policy characteristics to define spatial dimension of the transportation disadvantage problem. This paper presents an overview of these urban, development and policy characteristics that have significant relationships with sustainable urban and transportation development and travel inability, which are also useful in determining transportation disadvantaged populations.

Breeding and Population Density of the Eastern Screech OwlMegascops asioat the Northern Periphery of Its Range

Random-stratified spring nocturnal surveys using tape playback were conducted for Eastern Screech Owls Megascops asio from 2004 through 2007 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, at the northern periphery of its range. Surveys were stratified by (1) human density, (2) riparian vs. non-riparian habitat, and 3) the presence or absence of suburban greenspace. A total of 120 transects (each 1.75 km long) were surveyed, with 55 Eastern Screech Owls detected. Eastern Screech Owl densities peaked in moderate to high-density suburban areas (>20 persons/ha), where 36 (66%) detections occurred, and were lowest in wildlands (<1 pair/ha), where no detections occurred. Fifty-one (93%) Eastern Screech Owls were detected in riparian areas. Only 20 (36%) Eastern Screech Owls were detected in suburban greenspaces. In 4 years I located a total of 46 successful Eastern Screech Owl nests, 6 failed nests, and 37 territories with non-breeding owls. Excluding repeat cavity uses, a total of 61 nest sites and territory centres were located, of which 38 (62.3%) were in natural cavities, 21 (34.4%) in nest boxes, and 2 (3.3%) at sites where cavity choice was undetermined. Fledging dates ranged from 28 May – 3 July (mean 15 June, SE 1.4) over the 4-year period. Eastern Screech Owls were closely tied to riparian habitat, and showed larger average brood sizes and earlier average fledging dates in moderate and high-density suburban areas than in low-density suburban and rural areas.

The Social Impacts of Urban Containment by Arthur C. Nelson, Casey J. Dawkins, and Thomas W. Sanchez

Urban containment does not fit easily with popular images of the United States. We all know that the land of opportunity has wide-open spaces, low-density suburbs, automobile-dependent lifestyles, and large shopping malls: the result of unrestricted, successful individualism and commerce. Media suggest that these places contrast with the problematic ones we see on films and in the news: impoverished and dangerous ghettos; failed town centers; flooded, polluted, or devastated run-down suburbs; trailer parks; and other less attractive places where poor people and members of low-status ethnic minorities live. Nelson, Dawkins, and Sanchez dispel the simplistic myth that perpetuates the world of West Side Story, The Graduate, and Desperate Housewives. They also give the gentrification of Frasier, Sex in the City, and Friends rigorous treatment. Unusually for a textbook the book reports research findings. Having been told that the United States was late to apply development control in ways that sought to limit the extent of built-up areas, starting in 1958 with an urban growth boundary at Lexington, Kentucky (p. 9), the reader may be surprised to learn of at least 127 containment plans in the United States since then, falling into categories of “weak” or “strong,” and “accommodates” or “restricts” growth.

Anticipating TheTsunami: Rumours, Planning and The Arbitrary State in Zimbabwe

Using ethnographic material alongside newspaper and NGO reports, this article explores popular responses to ZANU PF's devastating Operation Murambatsvina, commonly dubbed Zimbabwe'stsunami, which targeted informal markets and ‘illegal’ housing across Zimbabwe between May and August of 2005, making an estimated 700,000 people homeless and indirectly affecting a quarter of Zimbabwe's population. The article argues that central to experiences of these dramatic events ‘on the ground’ (particularly in Harare's high- and low-density suburbs of Chitungwiza and Hatfield, where most of the ethnographic material was collected) was a profound tension between the resonances evoked by official appeals to a reassertion of ‘order’ and formal planning procedures, and the spectacle of ZANU PF's public demonstration of its ability to deploy state ‘force’ ruthlessly, and indeed ‘arbitrarily’; that is, as, when and how it chose. Although the brutal execution of the programme was widely condemned by observers and victims alike, less reported has been the way in which official justifications for the operation were sometimes recognizable and salient to people living in urban areas across Zimbabwe, resonating with memories of past clearances, or with longstanding and divergent aspirations for respectability, urban ‘order’, and a functioning, bureaucratic state. It is argued that in the ambiguity and uncertainty generated by this tension the political advantages of the operation for the ruling party become most apparent. Relating the plethora of rumours circulating at the time (about the ‘hidden agendas’ behind the operation) to Mbembe's work on post-colonial conviviality, the article argues that like Mbembe's satirical cartoons these rumours did not so much undermine or subvert the authority of ZANU PF as reinforce its omnipotent presence. However, unlike the pessimism of Mbembe's vision of all encompassing power, it is argued that if the rumours that circulated about Operation Murambatsvina are an example of the constant re-making of ‘stateness’ on the margins, then the uncertain ambiguity of such rumours can not only reinforce the omnipotent presence of the ‘state power’, but also illustrate the omnipresence of its fundamental insecurity.

Restructuring of Beijing's Social Space

Four China-, U.S.-, and UK-based senior specialists on the urban geography of Beijing team up to present the results of their investigation of the change in the city's social landscape on the basis of restricted subdistrict-level data covering the period from 1982 to 2000. Adopting a factor ecology approach, the authors seek to identify the extent to which factors that shape urban social landscapes in Western countries have played a role in Beijing during a period of economic transition (e.g., from administrative toward market allocation of housing). Similarly, they investigate the relative strength of processes of social differentiation vis-à-vis mixing accruing from the restructuring of Beijing's physical space (e.g., housing cost differentiation and accelerated in-migration that lead to the emergence of concentrated areas inhabited by migrants and/or minorities, and of relatively low density suburbs) revealed by the 2000 Census. The paper includes a section on developments since 2000, citing data (through 2006) on population, scarcity of affordable housing, traffic congestion, and industrial and residential relocation, relating in part to the forthcoming Olympic Games in 2008. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: I31, O15, O18, P20. 6 figures, 7 tables, 93 references.

Travel Self-Containment in Master Planned Estates: Analysis of Recent Australian Trends

Low density suburban development and excessive use of automobiles are associated with serious urban and environmental problems. Master planned development suggests itself as a possible palliative for these ills. This study examines the patterns and dynamics of movement in a selection of master planned estates in Australia with the aim of developing new approaches for assessing the containment of travel within planned development. A geographical information systems methodology is used to determine regional journey-to-work patterns and travel containment rates. Factors that influence self-containment patterns are estimated with a regression model. The findings of the pilot study demonstrate that the proposed model is a useful starting point for a systematic and detailed analysis of self-containment in master planned estates.

Analyzing the Impacts of Microscale Urban Attributes on Travel: Evidence from Suburban Adelaide, Australia

Metropolitan Adelaide in Australia is dominated by low-density suburbs with an extensive and large road supply, which brings with it car-dependent lifestyles that are ultimately unsustainable in the longer term. Changes are needed to make a city such as Adelaide less car-dependent toward a city that relies on more sustainable transport modes for its day to day urban travel needs. This paper presents the results from a comparative study of travel patterns among residents of four suburban residential areas in metropolitan Adelaide. Using existing datasets together with inventory data of urban environment characteristics from original fieldwork, this paper examines to what extent there are associations between various attributes of a particular urban location as they relate to travel behavior and household socio-economics. The findings derived from multinomial logit models show that suburban development pattern and design attributes can potentially create shifts in transport modal split suggesting that microscale urban features should be given more attention in transport policy making.

The effect of urban growth on commuting patterns in Christchurch, New Zealand

The rising demand for residential development in the urban fringe of Christchurch, New Zealand, has led to an increase in car use and lengthening journeys, both of which have serious environmental implications. In light of this, the relationship between urban form and transport was investigated in Christchurch through the analysis of journey to work data from 1991 and 2001. Low density suburban areas were found to generate and receive the highest percentages of car trips in both 1991 and 2001. It was also found that the majority of work-trips involved suburb-to-suburb commuting, rather than to the centre of the city. Average trip length did not increase substantially over this period, although increases were apparent in separate modes. Multivariate regression analysis established that the key variable determining modal split and trip length was the distance the residence was located from the central business district. Results were similar when compared to larger cities elsewhere.

Suburban Vision to Urban Reality: The Evolution of Olmsted and Vaux's Brooklyn Parkway Neighborhoods

In the late 1860s, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux prepared a plan for Brooklyn that was intended to structure the development of a vast area of rural land. The plan proposed an extensive system of parkways linking public open spaces, which would serve as spines around which low-density suburban neighborhoods would be built. Two long and complexly designed parkways were built, Eastern Parkway and Ocean Parkway, and special platting was laid out for an envisioned neighborhood, but little development occurred around the parkways for forty years. This article looks at the evolution of built form around the parkways from before they were constructed until the present day, analyzing the development that actually occurred in relation to the original planning vision.

Smart Growth, New Urbanism and Diversity: Progressive Planning Movements in America and Their Impact on Poor and Minority Ethnic Populations

ABSTRACT Smart Growth envisions a reduction in the extension of low-density suburban subdivisions as the predominant pattern of development. New Urbanism reflects a more pedestrian-oriented European style of urban life. Growth policies that target development toward urban infill and revitalization could result in the intensification of ethnic separation. The success of the strategies carries the alternative image of gentrification and displacement of the poor. Were New Urbanism to integrate economic classes through a mixture of housing types and costs (ranging from lofts and live/work units to higher density apartments, townhouses, and even single family detached homes) utilizing adequate subsidies, local governments could provide an optimally designed stock of housing. If designed around transit, it could dramatically improve access-to jobs and other services while offering more diverse neighborhoods. America's major cities include slum housing and a stock of barely habitable shelters which have served as housing for those of very low income, particularly new immigrants. Were these slums and lower-cost shelters replaced by new and revitalized development, cities such as New York or Los Angeles might cease to serve their democratizing and incubation function and the quality of life and opportunity for new immigrants and the poor may diminish. While many European cities are the archetype of New Urbanism, others have been allowed to become unfriendly to the pedestrian and too-automobile dominated. The affluence of Europe has generated a rising middle-class that enjoys driving modern automobiles and prefers the privacy and bucolic appearance of the American suburb. Increasing development of suburban detached homes and increasing automobile trips and ownership poses a threat to the quality of European urban life. As communities grapple with developers of such housing, a New Urbanist design model may offer huge benefits to mitigate the suburban pressure. I. INTRODUCTION American growth patterns have been driven by natural and unnatural forces. Vast amounts of land tended to foster individualism, privacy, and noncontiguous non-compact land use patterns. The national transportation policy of reliance on personal automobile transport resulted in dispersed housing sites and the decline of central cities. Furthermore, American courts have endorsed the doctrine of Euclidean zoning. Euclidean zoning calls for the separation of uses: commercial facilities, offices, single-family detached homes and apartments are all physically separate. (1) This pattern results in the devotion of a substantial portion of regional land for automobile use. (2) It generates traffic congestion, (3) dependence on oil, (4) extraordinary transportation costs for families, (5) higher costs to deliver municipal services, (6) and pollution. (7) In addition to the obvious adverse effects of automobile-based planning, community life disappears under this Dumb Growth. (8) For example, pedestrian life and urban living are exchanged for individuals socializing in private homes or in a few regional destinations that offer entertainment, an ersatz European-type urban walking experience, and a reasonably safe environment--typically the shopping mall. During the past thirty years, the principal response to the effects of suburban sprawl (9) and urban decline has been the American attempt at growth management. Individual communities might utilize devices such as urban growth boundaries, (10) development moratoria, (11) the establishment of complicated systems of annual permit caps, (12) or growth systems linked to infrastructure capacity--that is, to deny permits absent adequate roads, water, sewers, and schools. (13) America's experience in the 20th century has demonstrated the value of regional and comprehensive planning. Individual local growth management initiatives, haphazardly imposed, have failed to generate rational urban design. …

The Future of Land Use and Zoning

Abstract Preserve choices. More flexibility in land-use laws is needed to deal with a wide variety of situations from low-density suburbs, to neotraditional towns, to nodal exurbs. If we have learned but one lesson these last 100 years, it should be that one size does not fit all. More states need to modernize land-use laws a la the GROWING SMART initiative or some sustainable development basis. This is one place where trying is succeeding-where half a loaf is better than none! Perhaps in 100 years, the planners of our children's children's children's era can look back and say: “They fought the noble fight. They built the land-use law foundation for our present success. We owe our present quality of life to the fact that they never took one eye off the future, while the other was clearly focused on the needs of the present. They learned from their experiments, their successes, and their failures. They never were afraid to try something new. They never gave up. They never stopped looking ahead.”

ENUMERATION AREA (EA) CIRCLES: A NEW ACCOUNTING OF NEIGHBORHOOD ENVIRONMENTS IN CANADA

The Census of Canada tells us much about dwellings but little about neighborhood environment. If we want to know just how many Canadians live in homogeneous, modern, low-density suburbs, the best that many scholars can do presently is to assign each Census Tract (CT) to a category of neighborhood environment, and then add up counts of households in all CTs that fit into a specified category. However, Statistics Canada also provides summary data at a finer geographic scale: the Enumeration Area (EA). This paper explores a measure of neighborhood environment derived using a circle of fixed radius drawn around each EA centroid. Each EA centroid is at the center of its own circle but also may lie within circles drawn around other EAs. In this paper, each circle is assigned to a category of neighborhood environment on the basis of housing found in EAs whose centroids lie within the circle. Categorization of neighborhood environment is based on principal type of dwelling and period of construction found within the circle, and the homogeneity of the stock. This paper finds significant differences in neighborhood characterizations when using EA circles compared to CTs. These differences are most marked in the case of larger urban areas. The paper considers why this is the case.

Serological survey for antibodies reactive with Ehrlichia canis and E. chaffeensis in dogs from the Bloemfontein area, South Africa.

Sera from 161 dogs in the Bloemfontein area in South Africa were tested for the presence of antibodies reactive with Ehrlichia canis and E. chaffeensis by indirect fluorescent antibody testing. Overall, 68 (42%) of the dogs had significant antibody titres (> or = 1/64) against E. canis and 61 (38%) had significant titres (> or = 1/64) against E. chaffeensis. Seven (11%) dogs had higher titres to E. chaffeensis than E. canis (1/2048 and 1/1024 (2 dogs); 1/1024 and 1/512 (2 dogs); 1/2048 and 1/512; 1/512 and 1/256 and 1/512 and < 1/64, respectively). The remaining seropositive dogs had equal (n = 26; 42%) or 2-(n = 17; 25%), 3-(n = 13; 2%) or 4-fold (n = 5; 7%) higher titres against E. canis. Dogs from economically depressed, high-density suburbs (60/112; 48%) had significantly higher prevalences of antibodies against E. canis than those from more affluent, low-density suburbs (8/49; 14%) (chi 2 = 19.38, p < 0.001). Higher titres to E. chaffeensis than E. canis were found in dogs from affluent, low-density suburbs (3/49) and in dogs from economically depressed, high-density suburbs (4/112).

Neotraditional planning: A new strategy for building neighborhoods?

Neotraditional planning is an increasingly discussed strategy for building neighborhoods in the United States. To its proponents this urban design-based planning model corrects the flaws inherent in the conventional low density suburban planning that has dominated land use in the United States in the post-World War II era. Neotraditional planning proposes to foster neighborliness and community life through the re-creation of idealized small towns from the early twentieth century. Borrowing design and site planning standards, pedestrianism is encouraged and automobile travel discouraged. This paper presents an assessment of the neotraditional planning model and its effectiveness in creating functioning neighborhoods. The analysis finds serious deficiencies with the community building capacity of this planning paradigm. The progressive rhetoric of neotraditionalism does not match empirical application of the approach. Reasons for this failure are presented.