Street Patterns Research Articles

Investigating urban heat island through spatial analysis of New York City streetscapes

Cities experience the urban heat island (UHI), which continue to pose challenges for humanity's increasingly urban population. Past research has revealed that land cover composition and configuration, along with other geographical phenomena (i.e., albedo), can explain much of the spatial pattern of UHI, yet advances await. In response, this research was made to: (i) assess the spatial pattern of mean ambient night temperature across 34 streetscapes in New York City (NYC); (ii) create and differentiate global and local regression models between-natural and built streetscape characteristics- and mean ambient night temperature; and (iii) use geographically weighted regression (GWR) to assess local patterns of correlated associations. Urban canopy layer (UCL) temperatures were recorded across 34 weather stations, and landscape metrics calculated from 0.914 m land cover data with 96% accuracy. Local Getis-Ord Gi* statistic exhibited significant spatial cold and hot spots of UHI in NYC. Global inferential tests revealed that sky-view factor, photosynthesis activity, elevation, and road configuration were the strongest predictors of mean ambient night temperature. Six multiple regression models were ultimately made with GWR fitting the UHI aptly (R2 = 65–74%). Important explanatory covariates were illustrated using local pseudo-t statistics and linked to mean ambient night temperature, supporting the importance of GWR for understanding local UHI interactions. Results also confirm that landscape configuration metrics are stronger predictors of UHI than composition measures. Streetscape design, particularly road patterns and process, requires more consideration when attempting to mitigate UHI during future sustainability planning, urban renewal projects, and research.

The Eurasian Jet Streams as Conduits for East Asian Monsoon Variability

This article gives a brief review on how the jet streams over the Eurasian continent influence the East Asian monsoon on intraseasonal to interdecadal time scales and discusses the seasonal predictability and change. The wave train along the Eurasian jet streams is found to be crucial for East Asian monsoon variability. Interaction of the upper-level Rossby wave train with the Siberian High causes changes in winter monsoon climate over East Asia. In the case of summer, the Silk Road pattern, embedded in the Asian jet in association with western North Pacific circulation and the Pacific-Japan pattern, alters the strength and phase of the monsoon. Current coupled models showed limited skills in seasonal prediction of the Eurasian jet variations and their influences on the East Asian monsoon variability. The Eurasian jets as conduits for East Asian monsoon variability involve multiple feedbacks. Its interaction with low-level circulation mostly determines the degree of strength of variations in the monsoon climate. Global warming projections based on RCP 4.5 and 8.5 in the CMIP5 (the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 5) models indicate that the mean Asian jet strengthens in future during winter, but no change is reported during summer.

Study on Performance of Vehicle with Different Types of 12 V Starter Batteries Using HILS

There is an active technological development effort into the fuel efficiency enhancement of the existing internal combustion engine vehicles. As part of this technological development effort, researches are being conducted on the use of lithium batteries as the starter battery for internal combustion engine vehicles, in place of lead–acid batteries. While the use of lithium starter battery is expected to result in various advantages and disadvantages, there is a lack of specific research on this area. Therefore, in this paper, we present a quantitative analysis of the characteristics and performance of internal combustion engine vehicles with different types of starter batteries. For this purpose, we simulate the power-net system of a vehicle, including charging control, through a test bench based on actual vehicle data, and develop an automotive power-net hardware-in-the-loop simulation (HILS) by combining the test bench with a powertrain model. HILS-based test and evaluation were performed for vehicles equipped with absorbent glass mat (AGM) battery and those with lithium battery, using an actual road evaluation pattern to compare their characteristics and performance with impedance measurements for each type of battery.

Physical Changes in World Heritage Sites under the Pressure of Tourism: The Case of Cumalıkızık Village in Bursa

Bursa, the first capital city of Ottoman Empire, was inscribed into UNESCO World Heritage List in 2014 with Khans Area, Sultan Complexes (Kulliyes) and Cumalıkızık village representing the relationship between urban and rural areas of Early Ottoman Period. Cumalıkızık Village is one of the most popular rural settlements in Bursa which maintains its urban fabric, road pattern, and traditional houses. Under the pressure of increasing tourism, traditional houses began to be used for commercial purposes with the interventions made by their owners which threatens the sustainability and preservation of their authenticity and integrity. This paper aims to determine the interventions in historic dwellings and courtyards due to tourism. For this purpose, three historic houses on the most visited sightseeing route starting from the village square, continuing along the nodes of the settlement following the mosque and the hammam (public bath) to examine the physical changes under the effect of tourism. Keywords: cultural tourism; rural heritage; world heritage sites; Cumalıkızık; Bursa

Development Direction of Gunung Nona Tourism Area Based on Landslide Mitigation

Gunung Nona tourism area is one of the tourism areas in Enrekang Regency. As a tourism area in the mountain area, it cannot be denied that this area is vulnerable to disaster especially for landslide. This research aimed to: 1) identify the pattern of development of tourism facilities in the area of Gunung Nona. 2) identify the vulnerability level of landslide in Gunung Nona area. 3) establish regional development strategies of Gunung Nona tourism area based on the landslide mitigation. This research included descriptive qualitative and quantitative. Data analysis technique were observation, interview, documentation, and inventory of related agencies. The data analysis techniques used were qualitative and quantitative descriptive analysis, weighted scoring analysis, overlay and spatial mapping analysis. The results of this research were: 1) tourism facilities in the area of Gunung Nona are main facility as tourist attraction, accommodation and restaurant along with complementary facilities such as playground and photo spots. The pattern of development sector from a span of 1995 to 2012 kept following the pattern of main road and started extending to the east following the tourist attraction of Buttu Macca from 2013 to 2018. 2) Gunung Nona tourism area partially covers Mandette village and Bambapuang village. The area with medium level of vulnerability in Madatte village is 926,60 Ha while the whole vulnerable area is 681,21 Ha. Whereas for vulnerability level of Bambapuang village area is 1446,26 Ha and the whole vulnerable area is 915,92 Ha. 3) direction for tourism area is divided into two zones, for vulnerable zone is directed as restricted eco-tourism and can only perform disaster mitigation with environmental approach while vulnerable zone is directed as conditional eco-tourism and can be performed disaster mitigation approach with technical engineering

Challenges and Opportunities of Urban Fabrics for Sustainable Planning In Cuenca (Ecuador)

In recent years attention has been given to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, causing climate change, without recognizing the importance of urban form. In Latin American cities, spatial dynamics, urban fabrics and territorial distribution, among others, are not always considered when plans are developed. The cities of Ecuador, particularly Cuenca, show processes of dispersion as a result of their own growth disconnected from urban centers, which is evidenced by the high rate of use of the private vehicle per capita and implies a high consumption of fossil energy and environmental pollution. Additionally, urban fabrics affect the functioning and social dynamics of a city and therefore have a direct relationship with planning. With this background, this project seeks to identify and categorize different urban fabrics in the city of Cuenca using a visual methodology that takes into account street and block patterns; patterns of parcelization and land use; building form, scale and placement on lots; street and parking design; and typical relationships between “green” and “gray” landscape components. As a result, eighteen urban fabrics were identified in the city, with different challenges and opportunities for sustainability. The produced knowledge allowed the generation of sustainable and resilient planning recommendations and opened a wide field of possibilities for future research.

Intrazonal or interzonal? Improving intrazonal travel forecast in a four-step travel demand model

Conventional four-step travel demand models, used by most metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs), state departments of transportation, and local planning agencies, are the basis for long-range transportation planning in the United States. Trip distribution—whether the trip is intrazonal (internal) or interzonal (external)—is one of the essential steps in travel demand forecasting. However, the current intrazonal forecasts based on a gravity model involve flawed assumptions, primarily due to a lack of considerations on differences in zone size, land use, and street network patterns. In this study, we first survey 25 MPOs about how they model intrazonal travel and find the state of the practice to be dominated by the gravity model. Using travel data from 31 diverse regions in the U.S., we develop an approach to enhance the conventional model by including more built environment D variables and by using multilevel logistic regression. The models’ predictive capability is confirmed using k-fold cross-validation. The study results provide practical implications for state and local planning and transportation agencies with better accuracy and generalizability.

3D CITY MODELING USING MULTIROTOR DRONE FOR CITY HERITAGE CONSERVATION

This paper aims to construct a 3D Malay city based on data collected from DJI Phantom 3, a multi rotor drone, and further analyse the urban form of traditional Malay cities using 3 main urban form components which are buildings, land use and streets. Kota Bharu was selected as the study area and the flight mission produced 793 images which were processed in Agisoft and further constructed 3D GIS in ArcGIS 10.2. The analysis of urban form shows that the old traditional development in north-north west still maintain the identity of Malay urban form, of the organic pattern of streets, preserve Malay architectures and the type of land use for traditional settlement. This finding shows that, Malay values in cities and architecture still remain and it must be preserved from any development and it can be a benchmark on adapting technologies and shifting methods in conservation and safeguarding our heritage cities in Malaysia.

Winter City Urbanism: Enabling All Year Connectivity for Soft Mobility.

This study explores connectivity for soft mobility in the winter season. Working with residents from the sub-arctic city of Luleå, Sweden, the research examines how the interaction between the built environment and winter season affects people’s use of the outdoor environment. The research questions for this study are (1) How do residents perceive the effects of winter on an areas spatial structure and pattern of streets and pathways? and (2) What enablers and barriers impact resident soft mobility choices and use of the public realm in winter? Methods used were mental mapping and photo elicitation exercises. These were used to gain a better understanding of people’s perception of soft mobility in winter. The results were analysed to identify how soft mobility is influenced by the winter season. The discussion highlights that at the neighbourhood scale, residents perceive that the winter alters an areas spatial structure and pattern of streets and pathways. It was also seen to reduce ease of understanding of the public realm and townscape. In conclusion, it is argued that new and re-tooled town planning strategies, such as extending blue/ green infrastructure planning to include white space could help better enable all year outdoor activity in winter cities.

A scoping review on the relations between urban form and health: a focus on Canadian quantitative evidence.

Despite the accumulating Canadian evidence regarding the relations between urban form and health behaviours, less is known about the associations between urban form and health conditions. Our study aim was to undertake a scoping review to synthesize evidence from quantitative studies that have investigated the relationship between built environment and chronic health conditions, self-reported health and quality of life, and injuries in the Canadian adult population. From January to March 2017, we searched 13 databases to identify peer-reviewed quantitative studies from all years that estimated associations between the objectively-measured built environment and health conditions in Canadian adults. Studies under-taken within urban settings only were included. Relevant studies were catalogued and synthesized in relation to their reported study and sample design, and health outcome and built environment features. Fifty-five articles met the inclusion criteria, 52 of which were published after 2008. Most single province studies were undertaken in Ontario (n = 22), Quebec (n = 12), and Alberta (n = 7). Associations between the built environment features and 11 broad health outcomes emerged from the review, including injury (n = 19), weight status (n = 19), cardiovascular disease (n = 5), depression/anxiety (n = 5), diabetes (n = 5), mortality (n = 4), self-rated health (n = 2), chronic conditions (n = 2), metabolic condi-tions (n = 2), quality of life (n = 1), and cancer (n = 1). Consistent evidence for associations between aggregate built environment indicators (e.g., walkability) and diabetes and weight and between connectivity and route features (e.g., transportation route, trails, pathways, sidewalks, street pattern, intersections, route characteristics) and injury were found. Evidence for greenspace, parks and recreation features impacting multiple health outcomes was also found. Within the Canadian context, the built environment is associated with a range of chronic health conditions and injury in adults, but the evidence to date has limitations. More research on the built environment and health incorporating rigorous study designs are needed to provide stronger causal evidence to inform policy and practice.

Effect of Community Road Infrastructure, Socio-Demographic and Street Pattern in Promoting Walking as Sustainable Transportation Mode

Background: Traffic demand is growing worldwide and the increased carbon emission from transport and travel activities is contributing to greenhouse gas emission and climate change. As the oil and gas capital of Canada, the city of Calgary has a very high carbon footprint per population and the reduction of automobile use is an important policy goal for the city. Walking, a part of active transportation promotes sustainable transportation initiative by reducing greenhouse gas emission. To encourage walking, favorable walking environment should be ensured which largely depends on street pattern and connectivity. However, the effect of street pattern on walking at community level was not explored much in previous studies, particularly at rapidly expanding city such as Calgary’s context. Aims and Objectives: The study identifies the effects of different neighborhood design and planning factors associated with the share of walking in work trips while controlling for differences in social economic characteristics of the neighborhood. Methods: A linear regression model was developed using community-level data from the 2011 census and the road infrastructure data of Calgary. Results: Our study finds that different street patterns and types of land use, length of train tracks, number of train stations and number of schools have significant effect on walking. Conclusion: Thus, different neighbourhood street patterns and land uses should be considered in the development of new communities for promoting active and sustainable transportation.

SPATIAL ANALYSIS OF DISTRIBUTION PATTERNS OF DENGUE HEMORRHAGIC FEVER IN ENDEMIC VILLAGES IN TEMANGGUNG REGENCY INDONESIA

Background: Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever (DHF) infection is the most important arboviral disease in humans based on the geographical distribution, morbidity and mortality. It is transmitted by person to person by Aedes sp . In Indonesia the trend of Incidence Rate (IR) What is IR? Is it incidence rate? Please clarify. in DHF in 2015 to 2016 increased from 50.75 to 78.85 For the number, dot is usually used instead of comma sign (50.75 and 78.85). per 100.000 residents, and decreased in 2017 to 26.10 per 100.000 residents. One of the regencies with high IR of DHF in Central Java Province is Temanggung regency. In 2017, Temanggung regency was in the third position among the highest in Central Java. With the existence of cases each year, it revealed that there were endemic villages of DHF. Until June 2018, there were 56 endemic villages scattered in 19 endemic sub-districts in Temanggung Regency so that it was necessary to analyse the distribution patterns in order to predict and analyse DHF and be able to plan to prevent it. Materials and Methods: This research applied descriptive research with spatial analysis. It used secondary data taken from the Public Health Office in Temanggung regency. The data were processed spatially using the ArcGis application by overlaying an administrative map with a map of the highway and height of the region. Result: There were 35 endemic villages (62,5%) from 56 endemic villages were scattered along the main road and other roads. This could be related to population density and mobility. Based on height, WHO stated the ability of mosquitoes to survive and breed below 1000 meter above sea level (masl) What is masl? This should have been written as meter above sea level . As many as 54 (96.4%) endemic villages were at height below 1000 masl, while 2 (3.6%) villages were above 1000 masl. Conclusion: The distribution characteristics of the endemic villages in Temanggung regency follow the pattern of major highways and other roads and height below 1000 masl. Keywords: DHF, Endemic Villages, Highway Patterns, Height, Risk Factors

The Role of Urban Pattern Indicators in Achieving Sustainable Urban Forms in the Developed Countries - A Pragmatic Evaluation of Two Sustainable Urban Contexts

Since cities are constantly changing, their new forms and activities are developed according to their patterns and physical arrangements. Sustainable urban forms are currently a widely discussed topic in the concept of urban sustainability. The physical forms of cities can be conceptualised as two interlocking planes. The first comprises the spatial distribution of activities and buildings. The second is made up of the pattern of streets, parks and the public realm. Sustainable integration between these layers leads to a compatibly built environment. This paper intends to formulate sustainable urban form indicators as a conceptual framework model that provides a comprehensive understanding of how sustainability can be evaluated and measured according to the pattern of any built environment. This framework consists of eight indicators: Accessibility, Connectivity, Compatibility, Diversity, Nodality, Density, Identity, and Adaptability. Accordingly, two of the most significant sustainable urban districts have been chosen for field study. The first is the Hammarby residential district in Stockholm, Sweden and the second is the Vauban residential district in Freiburg, Germany. The research concludes that good performance of urban pattern indicators in these developed communities may motivate, inform and improve design strategies for achieving a more sustainable urban context.

Neighborhood outdoor play of White and Non-White Hispanic children: Cultural differences and environmental disparities

A continued decrease in outdoor play time among children has contributed to the decline in their overall physical activity levels. Creating safe and supportive neighborhood environments for outdoor play can help promote physical activity especially among children lacking private play areas. Further, children from different cultural backgrounds may be influenced by different factors when deciding if or where to play. This paper examines differences in outdoor play patterns and locations, and their correlates between Hispanic and non-Hispanic White children.A total of 3449 elementary school students (69.3% Hispanic) were recruited in 2010 from 20 schools in the Austin Independent School District, Texas. Using the data collected from their parental survey, two multivariable linear regression models were estimated to identify correlates of outdoor play time for each ethnic group.Hispanic children used fewer types of places to play outdoors but for more minutes/weekday. A high residential density appeared as a facilitator among White children, while a connected street pattern (more intersections/crossings) functioned as a barrier among Hispanic children. Neighborhood safety, destinations, and land uses were important in both ethnic groups, but differences were found in the specific associations.Findings suggest that intervention strategies to promote outdoor play should respond to the specific needs, preferences, and external constraints of children from different cultural backgrounds. The strategies should also be tailored to provide safer places for Hispanic children. This proposes public participation from diverse ethnic groups in processes of planning and infrastructure decision-making to reflect different preferences and achieve equitable access to health-supportive resources.

A scenario-based map-matching algorithm for complex urban road network

Previous map-matching algorithms perform well in sparse road areas and simple road network structures. Nevertheless, mismatches emerge when the algorithms are implemented in a complex road network. Special road patterns such as parallel or auxiliary roads, roundabouts, intersections, U-turns, or overpasses make it harder to identify features correctly. This paper proposes a scenario-based map-matching algorithm which balances accuracy and efficiency. Instead of matching every point by a constant process, the proposed algorithm provides specific combinations of filters for different operational environments. To eliminate improper candidate roads at each step, five road filters are introduced. Each filter has its own trigger condition, and if the condition is not satisfied, the filter will be skipped. The algorithm is validated using taxi GPS data on various complex roads in Shenzhen. The algorithm correctly identified 99.60%, 96.40%, 93.18%, 96.87%, and 94.11% of the roads for simple, opposing parallel, and auxiliary roads; intersections; and unconnected buffer situations, respectively. The proposed algorithm has two important features: 1. the algorithm is suitable for various complex intersections; 2.the map-matching process can be adjusted according to the traffic scenario, which saves computational time. The evaluated performance indicates that the proposed algorithm performs better than previous map-matching algorithms in both simple and complex road networks and can be efficiently applied to GPS datasets using various time intervals.

The decadal shift of the long persistent rainfall over the northern part of China and the associated ocean conditions

The long persistent rainfall (LPR) over the northern part of China has a great impact on its society and economics. This study investigates the decadal shift of the regional‐mean LPR frequency over the northern part of China (LPR frequency) from 1971 to 2014 and the associated ocean conditions. The LPR frequency has experienced a significant decadal shift around 1996, with an enhanced (reduced) anomaly before (after) 1996, which is closely associated with a meridional tri‐pole sea surface temperature (SST) anomaly over the central Pacific, a La Niña‐like anomaly for the pre‐1996 epoch (1971–1996) and an obvious warming over the south Indian Ocean and the western part of south Pacific Ocean in the post‐1996 epoch (1997–2014). In the pre‐1996 epoch, associated with the typical SSTs, the ascent motion with increasing humidity anomalies are over the northern part of China. Meanwhile, high (low) pressure anomalies are over western Asia and East Asia (Europe and central Asia), which resembles as the positive phase of the Silk Road pattern (SRP). It would be associated with the polewards shift of the East Asian jet stream (EAJS) and therefore result in the northwards shift of the rain belt and benefit the occurrence of the LPR. In the post‐1996 epoch, associated with the warming over the specific south oceans, a descend anomaly dominates over the northern part of China, as well as the resembled negative phase of the SRP over mid‐high latitudes and equatorwards shift of the EAJS. These would suppress the rainfall over the northern part of China and reduce the LPR frequency over there after 1996.

Relationship between the Circumglobal Teleconnection and Silk Road Pattern over Eurasian continent

Relationship between the Circumglobal Teleconnection and Silk Road Pattern over Eurasian continent

A New, Score-Based Multi-Stage Matching Approach for Road Network Conflation in Different Road Patterns

Road-matching processes establish links between multi-sourced road lines representing the same entities in the real world. Several road-matching methods have been developed in the last three decades. The main issue related to this process is selecting the most appropriate method. This selection depends on the data and requires a pre-process (i.e., accuracy assessment). This paper presents a new matching method for roads composed of different patterns. The proposed method matches road lines incrementally (i.e., from the most similar matching to the least similar). In the experimental testing, three road networks in Istanbul, Turkey, which are composed of tree, cellular, and hybrid patterns, provided by the municipality (authority), OpenStreetMap (volunteered), TomTom (private), and Basarsoft (private) were used. The similarity scores were determined using Hausdorff distance, orientation, sinuosity, mean perpendicular distance, mean length of triangle edges, and modified degree of connectivity. While the first four stages determined certain matches with regards to the scores, the last stage determined them with a criterion for overlapping areas among the buffers of the candidates. The results were evaluated with manual matching. According to the precision, recall, and F-value, the proposed method gives satisfactory results on different types of road patterns.

Energy Efficiency Design Guide for Optimal Urban Features of Open Spaces in Residential Complexes

The energy consumption in buildings and especially residential buildings is immensely affected by the design of urban open spaces around these buildings. Many countries including Egypt have been witnessing rapid growth in residential complexes while the effect of urban design on microclimate and energy use is not given appropriate considerations. Accordingly, this has contributed to the massive increase of energy consumption. Many studies have been conducted for analyzing the effects of urban features of open spaces (variables) and their values on the microclimate. A set of values for one or more variables were addressed in each of these studies and their effect on urban microclimate and energy use were measured. However, such effects were diverse and dispersed. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to identify the optimal settings of urban features of open spaces that contribute to reducing energy consumption in buildings and achieve outdoor thermal comfort in the context of urban open spaces in residential complexes. In order to achieve this goal an extensive and thorough literature review is conducted for classifying and analyzing the impacts of different values of each urban feature of open spaces on energy use and thermal comfort. The urban features of open spaces in residential complexes are classified into five categories: urban morphology, street pattern, urban density, building distribution, and urban canyon. There are various subvariables for each category with corresponding range of values which are classified into different sets. Each set corresponds to the same urban pattern and climate zone. The results of these sets and categories are comparatively analyzed in order to identify the optimal values that contribute to reducing energy consumption in buildings and achieve outdoor thermal comfort. The outcome of this extensive comparative analysis is resulted in the form of five main urban patterns (that are dominantly used in residential complexes), for the two climate zones in Egypt (hot arid, and hot humid) along with the optimal urban design features of these five main urban patterns. The outcome of this research paper is presented in a matrix format that graphically presents these urban patterns and the optimal values of the urban open space features (variables) along with the indicators of energy consumption and outdoor thermal comfort. This matrix provides architects and building designers with a useful and friendly design guide that can be used at the early phases of urban design and can help them to achieve energy efficient and comfortable urban-open spaces in residential complexes. Such design guide will contribute in improving the awareness of designers at the early phases of the design process and direct their designs to be energy conscious and efficient prior to the detailed design phase wherein energy simulation is time-consuming and expensive.

Road Erosion and Delivery Index (READI): A Model for Evaluating Unpaved Road Erosion and Stream Sediment Delivery

AbstractThe Road Erosion and Delivery Index (READI) is a new geographic information system–based model to assess erosion and delivery of water and sediment from unpaved road networks to streams. READI quantifies the effectiveness of existing road surfacing and drain placements in reducing road sediment delivery and guides upgrades to optimize future reductions. Roads are draped on a digital elevation model and parsed into hydrologically distinct segments. Segments are further divided by engineered drainage structures. For each segment, a kinematic wave approximation generates runoff hydrographs for specified storms, with discharge directly to streams at road–stream crossings and onto overland‐flow plumes at other discharge points. Plumes are attenuated by soil infiltration, which limits their length, with delivery occurring if plumes intersect streams. Sediment production and sediment delivery can be calculated as a relative dimensionless index. READI predicts only a small proportion of new drains and new surfacing results in the majority of sediment delivery reductions. The model illustrates how the spatial relationships between road and stream networks, controlled by topography and network geometries, influence patterns of road–stream connectivity. READI was applied in seven northern California basins. The model was also applied in a recent burn area to examine how reduced hillslope infiltration can result in increased hydrologic connectivity and sediment delivery.