Residential Parcels Research Articles

Equitable stormwater utility fees: an integrated analysis of environmental, socioeconomic and infrastructure factors at the community scale

Abstract Municipalities worldwide implement stormwater management programs to mitigate the hydrological and water quality impacts of stormwater runoff. Stormwater utility fees (SWUF) are often used to fund such important programs by collecting revenue from residential and commercial properties. However, existing SWUFs often solely rely on the estimate of impervious surfaces and do not consider other environmental, infrastructure, and socioeconomic factors in the generation and effects of stormwater runoff. This study is the first attempt to propose a reconstruction of SWUFs from the perspectives of social equity and environmental justice. The method aims to address disparities in fee rates among residential parcels, focusing on helping economically disadvantaged communities. It integrates drainage service, potential contribution to non-point source pollution, and socioeconomic status through two alternative schemes. The two schemes allocate fees based on combined rankings of the three factors at the level of census block groups. The proposed method was applied to 88 180 residential parcels in Corpus Christi, Texas, a mid-sized coastal community. The results suggest that over 70% of the disadvantaged communities would benefit from the reconstructed SWUFs without affecting the targeted funding for stormwater infrastructure. This method builds on publicly available datasets and offers an adaptive framework for other municipalities to incorporate additional factors or datasets, representing an exploratory step toward achieving more equitable stormwater management practices.

Lead bioaccessibility and commonly measured soil characteristics in Detroit, Michigan

Historical and contemporary use of lead (Pb) in gasoline, paints, and industry have led to its concentration in urban soils, presenting a human health risk, with disproportionate impacts on children living in urban areas. Contaminated soil is one of the major contributors to child Pb exposure. While many residents practicing urban agriculture have their soil tested to determine the amount of soil total Pb present, this measure does not provide a direct indicator of soil Pb bioaccessibility (used to predict bioavailability). Because bioavailability is ultimately necessary to determine the exposure risk, we aimed to gain a more refined understanding of Pb risk using measurements commonly performed as part of typical agricultural soil tests. Accordingly, we sampled soils from 142 residential parcels located in Detroit, MI. Soils were evaluated for: pH, organic matter content, cation exchange capacity, phosphorus, sulfur, calcium, potassium, magnesium, and sodium and total and in-vitro bioaccessible (IVBA) Pb. Detroit soil IVBA Pb ranged from 4.5% to 81%, with a mean of 39%. Total Pb, organic matter (OM) content and soil pH were found to be the most important predictors of Pb bioaccessibility. Soils typically had a relatively low OM content (mean of 5%) however, samples with higher OM content had lower IVBA (e.g., the IVBA was 15.2% smaller in soils with 7.5% OM). Soils were typically slightly basic (mean of 7.8); however, samples with pH closer to neutral had lower IVBA (e.g., the IVBA was 11.6% smaller in soils with a pH of 7.3). The proximity of soil sampling locations to former smelter locations was also found to influence Pb bioaccessibility, with samples closer to former Pb smelter sites having a somewhat higher average IVBA. Results suggest increasing soil OM content in urban soils will reduce Pb bioaccessibility. Building soil OM would therefore improve both soil fertility and decrease soil Pb bioaccessibility, imparting a predicted decrease in exposure risks.

How does upzoning impact land use and transport: a case study of Seattle

ABSTRACT This work simulates the long-term land use and transportation impacts of upzoning in the region of Seattle, Washington at the parcel level, using UrbanSim and an agent-based travel demand model (SoundCast). Scenario results are compared to illuminate differences in a Business-as-Usual (BAU) future versus two upzoning scenarios that upzone all single-family-use residential parcels in the region or just those in the City of Seattle to 3 dwelling units per parcel. Under BAU, affordability falls 20% and rents rise 6% between 2014 and 2050, as the regional population grows to 5.7 million. With regional upzoning, 68,400 more dwellings are added, with rents 10% lower compared to the BAU future. The housing affordability index falls from 75.3 to 67.31, a significant improvement over the BAU scenario's sharper fall to 60.6. If only the City of Seattle upzones, only 3,400 additional units are predicted, but rents are 5.2% lower than the BAU case.

3D Spatial Analysis of Temporal Maintenance for Multi-use High-rise Buildings: Case Study

Urbanization has sparked an increase in the construction of multi-use highrise buildings which consists of commercial parcels on their lower floors and residential parcels on their higher floors. In contrast to conventional landed houses, the residents of high-rise buildings share common facilities and private parcels or spaces also differ according to ownership or use. The management and maintenance of these spaces are dependent on the ownership of the parcel where each ownership adheres to different rights, restrictions, and responsibilities (RRRs). Therefore, accurate representation and identification of those parcels affected by maintenance or renovation is crucial for assisting management bodies to improve the quality of life within a multi-use high-rise building. This study attempts to implement a temporal maintenance management for highrise building parcels within a 3D spatial database. A 3D space segmentation was done to analyze the ownership and use of space in a high-rise building. Spatial queries were also performed based on the temporal maintenance of the parcels; in addition, 3D spatial relationships were used to determine adjacent parcels that were affected by the maintenance. Thus, the implementation of temporal strata database management with an accurate 3D representation of the space can provide management bodies with concise and comprehensive information on parcels with respect to ownerships and uses.

A large-scale analytical residential parcel delivery model evaluating greenhouse gas emissions, COVID-19 impact, and cargo bikes

The e-commerce industry has experienced significant growth in the past decade, particularly post-COVID. To accommodate such growth, the parcel delivery sector has also grown rapidly. However, there is a lack of study that properly evaluates its social and environmental impacts at a large scale. A model is proposed to analyze such impacts. A parcel generation process is presented to convert public data into parcel volumes and stops. A continuous approximation model is fitted to estimate the length of parcel service tours. A case study is conducted using New York City (NYC) data. The parcel generation is shown to be a valid fit. The continuous approximation model parameters have R2 values of 98% or higher. The model output is validated againstUPS truck trips. Application of the model to2021 suggestsresidential parcel deliveries contributed to 0.05% of total daily vehicle-kilometer-traveled (VKT) in NYCcorrespondingto 14.4 metric tons of carbon equivalent (MTCE) emissions per day. COVID-19 contributed to an increase in parcel deliveries that led to up to 1 064.3 MTCE of annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in NYC (which could power 532 standard US households for ayear). The existing bike lane infrastructure can support the substitution of 17% of parcel deliveries by cargo bikes, which would reduce VKT by 11%. Adding 3 km of bike lanes to connect Amazon facilities can expand their cargo bike substitution benefit from a VKT reduction of 5% up to 30%. If 28 km of additional bike lanes are made, parcel delivery substitution citywide could increase from 17% to 34% via cargo bike and save an additional 2.3 MTCE per day. Cargo bike priorities can be set to reduce GHG emissions for lower-income neighborhoods including Harlem, Sunset Park, and Bushwick.

Beyond perception: Spatial analysis of detached ADU potential on residential lots in Windsor, Ontario

AbstractThis paper analyzes the spatial potential of detached additional dwelling units (ADUs) in Windsor, Ontario. A new GIS model, which integrates various geoprocessing commands in ArcGIS 10.8.1, is developed to calculate whether the minimum allowable size of a detached ADU can fit within the total buildable area of a residential property, based on the setbacks, the lot coverage requirements, and other factors (such as parking and flood plain areas). The model uses publicly sourced data that were obtained from the City of Windsor's Open Data Portal. More specifically, individual residential parcels and associated building footprints along with street centerlines are used as inputs to the model. The outputs are then categorized into three types (suitable, potentially suitable, and not suitable) to demonstrate where detached ADUs can be built in compliance with the local zoning bylaws, on both an individual lot basis and at an aggregate level. The conducted analysis reveals the potential of existing residential neighbourhoods in a mid‐size city, and has many implications for homeowners, policymakers, and researchers with respect to increasing housing supply within current Canadian municipalities.

Urban Structure Changes in Three Areas of Detroit, Michigan (2014–2018) Utilizing Geographic Object-Based Classification

The following study utilized geographic object-based image analysis methods to detect pervious and impervious landcover with respect to residential structure changes. The datasets consist of freely available very high-resolution orthophotos acquired under the United States National Agriculture Imagery Program. Over the last several decades, cities in America’s Rust Belt region have experienced population and economic declines—most notably, the city of Detroit. With increased property vacancies, many residential structures are abandoned and left vulnerable to degradation. In many cases, one of the answers is to demolish the structure, leaving a physical, permanent change to the urban fabric. This study investigates the performance of object-based classification in segmenting and classifying orthophotos across three neighbourhoods (Crary/St. Mary, Core City, Pulaski) with different demolition rates within Detroit. The research successfully generated the distinction between pervious and impervious land cover and linked those to parcel lot administrative boundaries within the city of Detroit. Successful detection rates of residential parcels containing structures ranged from a low of 63.99% to a high of 92.64%. Overall, if there were more empty residential parcels, the detection method performed better. Pervious and impervious overall classification accuracy for the 2018 and 2014 imagery was 98.333% (kappa 0.966) with some slight variance in the producers and users statistics for each year.

Evaluating the impact of proximity to reported toxic release facilities and flood events on chronic health outcomes in the city of Galena Park, Texas

Evidence has conclusively revealed that environmental justice communities experience poor environmental conditions compared to more affluent majority communities. However, there has been little research evaluating the health impacts of immediate proximity to industrial pursuits and flood events on a population compared to others living within the same community who are only marginally removed from these locations. This cross-sectional study (N = 130) utilized three approaches to assess health outcomes (1) the 12 item Short Form Health Survey, which creates a general physical component score, (2) self-reported noncancerous chronic conditions, and (3) self-reported diagnosis of twelve different cancers. Three risk levels were spatially created using a 5-scale ordinal score for each residential parcel based on the corresponding flood probability level and proximity to facilities which report to the United States Environmental Protection Agencies Toxic Release Inventory. Analysis revealed that general physical health scores were significantly lower (P-value < 0.001) in the medium and high-risk locations, Similarly chronic conditions witnessed a non-significant twofold increased risk in the highest-risk locations compared to the lowest (POR 1.91; 95 % CI 0.82–4.39) and a non-significant increased risk of cancer diagnosis (POR 1.51; 95 % CI 0.38–5.99). This research underscores the importance of place and health outcomes even within relatively geographically compact communities. Public health and urban planning interventions and designs should take into account fine grain approaches to respond to community needs while still being mindful of limited resources.

Developing and evaluating transit-based healthcare accessibility in a low- and middle-income country: A case study in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

This study examined transit-based accessibility to hospitals in Ulaanbaatar, the capital city of Mongolia, which is one of the low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Promoting transit-based accessibility to hospitals is an important public health policy goal because limited accessibility can lead to adverse health outcomes. Public transit is especially crucial for people living in LMICs because many of them lack private vehicles. However, transit-based hospital accessibility has not been widely studied in LMICs. With the recent development of open-source transit analysis tools and standardization of schedule-based transit network data protocols, we could build Ulaanbaatar's schedule-based transit network dataset in great detail. We computed transit-based accessibility to hospitals from 128,032 residential parcels in Ulaanbaatar. Overall, transit-based accessibility to hospitals was higher in the central area than in the peripheral areas of Ulaanbaatar. Specifically, transit-based accessibility to hospitals was significantly lower in the ger area (settlements without central infrastructure connection to heat, water, and sewage) than in the non-ger area (apartment area). The results revealed that about 10% of people living in the study area have inadequate transit-based accessibility to hospitals. Our research is one of the first studies attempting to create a detailed schedule-based transit network and measure transit-based accessibility to hospitals in a rapidly growing, under-examined city in LMICs.

Benefits of Proximity to Rail on Housing Markets: Experiences in Santa Clara County

Santa Clara County, California, home to both light- and commuter-rail services, has turned to transit-oriented development as a means to both reduce traffic congestion and redress severe shortages of affordable housing units. This article exanimes the degree to which proximity to two forms of rail transit—light rail and commuter rail—confer benefits to residential properties in terms of sales values. Hedonic price models are estimated that show job proximity over the transit network as well as nearness to rail stops substantially add value to residential parcels. All else being equal, large apartments within a quarter mile of a light-rail station commanded land-value premiums as high as 45 percent. Such market profits not only lure developers to station sites, but also provide a potential source of revenues to local agencies that have set up the kinds of value-recapture programs that allow them to participate in land-appreciation benefits that accrue.

Access to high-speed rail and land prices in China's peripheral regions

This paper examines how transport access affects the land values in peripheral regions, by exploiting the recent expansion of China's high-speed rail (HSR) network. Based on a nation-wide land transaction dataset and applying a DID-hedonic approach, we find that industrial parcels in distant peripheries benefit from the HSR-induced growth spillover, while residential parcels in the immediate vicinity of a high-tier core experience larger price appreciation after HSR connection. Based on comprehensive firm-level datasets, additional tests of the HSR impact on the location choice and performance of firms in peripheral regions show much similar patterns. These findings add to the understanding of the impact of HSR on the spatial distribution of economic activity. By accelerating the growth spillovers from the highly agglomerated urban core to remote peripheries, transport access can play an essential role in reducing spatial inequality. By contrast, peripheries neighboring highly agglomerated urban cores may benefit more from the relocation of residents from urban core, at the expense of a shrinking manufacturing sector due to agglomeration shadow effect.

Different places, different problems: profiles of crime and disorder at residential parcels

Different places, different problems: profiles of crime and disorder at residential parcels

Different places, different problems: profiles of crime and disorder at residential parcels

Different places, different problems: profiles of crime and disorder at residential parcels

Different places, different problems: profiles of crime and disorder at residential parcels

Certain places generate inordinate amounts of crime and disorder. We examine how places differ in their nature of crime and disorder, with three objectives: (1) identifying a typology of profiles of crime and disorder; (2) assessing whether different forms of crime and disorder co-locate at parcels; and (3) determining whether problematic parcels explain crime and disorder across neighborhoods. The study uses 911 and 311 records to quantify physical and social disorder and violent crime at residential parcels in Boston, MA (n = 81,673). K-means cluster analyses identified the typology of problematic parcels and how those types were distributed across census block groups. Cluster analysis identified five types of problematic parcels, four specializing in one form of crime or disorder and one that combined all issues. The second cluster analysis found that the distribution of problematic parcels described the spectrum from low- to high-crime neighborhoods, plus commercial districts with many parcels with public physical disorder. Problematic parcels modestly explained levels of crime across neighborhoods. The results suggest a need for diverse intervention strategies to support different types of problematic parcels; and that neighborhood dynamics pertaining to crime are greater than problematic properties alone.

Different places, different problems: profiles of crime and disorder at residential parcels&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;

Different places, different problems: profiles of crime and disorder at residential parcels&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;

Predictors of Variations in Residential Water Consumption in Central Texas

Background: The 100th Meridian in Texas aligns with a corridor of large and rapidly growing urban areas with a growing water demand and limited supply. Understanding the variations in residential water consumption may assist with identifying the characteristics associated with disproportionate water consumption that may be responsive to policy changes and enforcement. Methods: Data from the San Antonio Water System, the Bexar County Appraisal District, and the American Community Survey were utilized. The average daily water consumption was estimated for the seasons and a total year for more than 300,000 single-family residences between 2009 and 2015. The presence of a swimming pool, residential parcel hectares, size of the living space, and per capita income were examined as predictors of the variations in residential water consumption using hierarchal modeling. Results: The presence of swimming pools and a residential property’s value were the strongest predictors of water consumption. Parcel hectares and household income were positively associated with water consumption. A quartile analysis of select independent variables identified the disproportionate variations of water consumption of units with large yards, swimming pools, and high values. Conclusions: The findings indicate a strong association between variations in residential water consumption and both irrigation and swimming pool water used, which emphasize a need to focus conservation efforts on higher-valued housing and residences with swimming pools and the consideration of tiered pricing.

Inequities in Drinking Water Quality Among Domestic Well Communities and Community Water Systems, California, 2011‒2019.

Objectives. To evaluate universal access to clean drinking water by characterizing relationships between community sociodemographics and water contaminants in California domestic well areas (DWAs) and community water systems (CWSs). Methods. We integrated domestic well locations, CWS service boundaries, residential parcels, building footprints, and 2013-2017 American Community Survey data to estimate sociodemographic characteristics for DWAs and CWSs statewide. We derived mean drinking and groundwater contaminant concentrations of arsenic, nitrate, and hexavalent chromium (Cr[VI]) between 2011 and 2019 and used multivariate models to estimate relationships between sociodemographic variables and contaminant concentrations. Results. We estimated that more than 1.3 million Californians (3.4%) use domestic wells and more than 370 000 Californians rely on drinking water with average contaminant concentrations at or above regulatory standards for 1 or more of the contaminants considered. Higher proportions of people of color were associated with greater drinking water contamination. Conclusions. Poor water quality disproportionately impacts communities of color in California, with the highest estimated arsenic, nitrate, and Cr(VI) concentrations in areas of domestic well use. Domestic well communities must be included in efforts to achieve California's Human Right to Water. (Am J Public Health. 2022;112(1):88-97. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2021.306561).

Invited Perspective: Moving from Characterizing to Addressing Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Air Pollution Exposure.

Invited Perspective: Moving from Characterizing to Addressing Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Air Pollution Exposure.

Identifying causal changes in landscape greenness with very high-resolution airborne multispectral imagery and a panel data model

To effectively manage urban environmental systems, interventions on private lands may sometimes be necessary. This is illustrated in many water districts where water agencies run programs that provide incentives to landholders to change their landscaping to meet the water agency’s management goals. It is difficult to monitor, track, and evaluate landscape change programs on private land, however. To most efficiently do so, very high-resolution, time-series measurements of urban landcover would be useful, but such data is often unavailable. This study evaluates how private urban landscape change is represented in the highest resolution, publicly available, multispectral data product distributed in the United States. The study focuses on residential parcels that participated in a lawn replacement rebate program run by the East Bay Municipal Utility District, a water agency in California. Each parcel has a known quantity of turfgrass converted to drought-tolerant landscaping. The study asks if Normalized Differential Vegetation Index (NDVI) values derived from National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) data can be used to detect participation in a lawn replacement program at the parcel-level. While the NAIP data product has substantial error in a time-series and urban context, this study finds that approaching change detection using a fixed effect panel data model accommodates error, making it possible to identify NDVI change. With control groups defined by matching and weighing with Covariate Balancing Propensity Scores, results indicate that observed browning at the parcel-level can be causally attributed to participating in the lawn replacement program. This ability to detect small, causal changes in a heterogenous environment opens possibilities for monitoring and evaluating programs acting on private urban landscapes, contributing to more effective and efficient design, pricing and implementation.

Sea level rise inundation risk assessment in residential cadastral parcels along the Mediterranean Andalusian coast

The general objective of this article is to present the methodological approach for the assessment of the inundation risks associated with the rise in the mean sea level for different models and scenarios of climatic change (IPCC, 2013 and Jevrejeva et al., 2012). The approach focuses on the assessment of the hazard, exposure and physical vulnerability of the built areas, especially the residential areas along the Mediterranean coast of Andalusia (Spain). For hazards calculation a set of tide gauges’ data and climatic scenarios were analyzed to obtain future sea levels for all the spectrum of probabilities. Further, a method is proposed for mapping the probability associated with each scenario using a 5 m cell size DTM. For exposure and vulnerability assessment of built up areas, especially for residential ones, the National Cadastre, which is the most detailed set of data, have been used. Modeling the original cadastral data in a spatial database management system and their analysis through SQL sentences have made possible to identify the cadastral parcels with residential use and associated variables (area, number of residential real estate units, constructed area below ground, etc..), being therefore the cadastral parcel the spatial reference unit for mapping. The overlay of cadastral parcels and the inundation hazard maps has allowed identifying the residential cadastral parcels exposed to each climatic scenario. A method is proposed for better identification of the number of real estate units in each cadastral parcel, assuming this number as the base for residential parcel vulnerability. Finally, the risk assessment is calculated as the product of the previous variables. For the dissemination of the inundation risk assessment results, a web application (geoviewer) was developed. Results show that for the more pessimistic scenario more than 24,000 exposed cadastral parcels would be affected. Out of that, 13,000 exposed residential cadastral parcels were identified and their hazards, exposure and vulnerability calculated in order to map the final inundation risk associated with future sea levels.