Street Users Research Articles

Effects of the Informal Street Food Vendors’ Operations on the Socio-cultural and Economic Wellbeing of Nyeri Town Public

Nyeri town boasts of informal street food vendors found on almost every street, offering products ranging from indigenous to trendy cuisines. During evening hours, the informal street food operators compete for the street space with the town public. The design and the size of the town’s major streets have not been reviewed to accommodate the increasing number of informal street food vendors and the growing urban community. This study investigated the effects of the informal street food vendors’ location, products, operating time and modus operandi on the Socio-cultural and Economic Wellbeing of the urban community in Nyeri town. The researchers combined the integrated model, neo-Marxist and neo-liberal theories to contextualize the development and growth of informal street foods. Neo-Marxist theory posits that the informal sector expands as urbanization increases, and the Neo-liberal theory –argues that entrepreneurs pursue informal sectors in order to operate outside the official business frameworks to explore the subject of the study. Using the cross-sectional survey design, the study adopted the enumeration and convenience sampling techniques to select vendors and consumers respectively that responded to the questionnaire administered face-to-face. The qualitative data was analysed using the thematic content analysis, and the output was transformed into quantitative data to give percentages and frequencies. The informal street ventures inconvenienced street users, especially during rush hours. The food-related waste and a cocktail of food aromas made the street ambience less attractive. The equipment used on the streets and the unsecured fire points posed a great risk to the public. The study concludes that informal street food ventures provide employment that sustains livelihoods. The informal street businesses facilitate the flow of resources, and promote the mainstream economies like agriculture, retail and food manufacturing, thus contributing to wealth creation in the county. The study recommends benchmarking to explore ways to change the perception that informal street foods are unsafe, unhealthy and the ventures make the street look unattractive. In countries like Thailand in the city of Phuket, informal street foods are conducted in an organized manner

Fenomena Pengamen Al-Qur’an dan Implikasi Sosial Keagamaannya

This article discusses the phenomenon of Al-Qur'an Singers (PQ) which is widely found in Makassar, South Sulawesi, especially as a functional reception of Al-Qur'an as well as a review of Islamic law on it. This article argues that reading Al-Qur'an is a performing phenomenon in order to influence others. As a consequence of the performance, reading Al-Qur'an is good or bad based on its motives and impact. In discussing PQ, this article uses a type of field research, with primary sources in the form of interviews, observation, and documentation, while secondary sources are obtained from various relevant literature on the topic of study. These data are presented using a descriptive-analytical method based on a qualitative approach. This article concludes that the PQ phenomenon cannot be separated from the socio-religious construction of Makassar Muslims towards Al-Qur'an, as their Holy Book. PQ appears and develops in spaces and contexts relevant to Al-Qur'an’s functioning to get rewards from street users. In this socio-religious construction, PQ becomes a job that cannot be judged in black and white, namely halal or haram, because PQ shows uncertain (fixed) motives and impacts.

Understanding cyclists’ conflicts in the streets of a Latin American metropolis

Promoted by most governments as a sustainable form of transportation, cycling is surging worldwide. Despite the positive impacts of cycling, conflicts between cyclists and other street users such as pedestrians, cars and buses have increased, especially in countries lacking proper cycling infrastructure. This paper aims to understand a series of conflicts experienced by cyclists in Santiago de Chile, where cycling has expanded rapidly in the last fifteen years. To do so, three focus groups were held with cyclists having different levels of experience. The participants were asked to describe the main conflicts with other modes of transport and road users, as well as the coping strategies employed to deal with these conflicts. An inductive analysis ended with four categories related to cyclists’ conflicts in the streets and two related to strategies and lessons dealing with motorised vehicle drivers and other cyclists.The analysis indicates that the unequal distribution of road space negatively influences cyclists’ experiences, who perceive themselves as being threatened constantly by overtaking cars in close proximity, as well as by different forms of verbal and sometimes physical aggression. It indicates that cyclists develop strategies to mitigate conflicts, ranging from making themselves visible at all times, to making use of bodily gestures. However, conflicts can still escalate. The results suggest that, in auto-centric urban contexts, cycling is a challenging chore that happens surrounded by the sensation of having fragile entitlements.

Line‐of‐sight probability for UAV communications in 3D grid urban streets

AbstractIn this letter, the authors present a novel expression for the probability of line‐of‐sight (LoS) between a UAV and ground users situated on a gridded street within urban and dense urban environments. Firstly, this study conducts extensive ray‐tracing simulations, encompassing over 50,000 receivers positioned along streets in Brooklyn and Manhattan, respectively. Moreover, the impact of street width on the probability of LoS is investigated, considering three different average widths. By fitting the LoS probability data corresponding to the UAV's elevation angle in two urban environments obtained by simulations, a unified expression representing the relationship between the LoS probability and the UAV's elevation angle is obtained. This obtained LoS probability expression is compared with three existing expressions. The findings presented in this letter can provide some valuable insights for analytical studies on channel modelling between UAVs and ground‐based street users including vehicles.

Complete Street as a Key for Urban Environment Development

Purpose: The concept of complete street is one of the modern trends concerned with diversifying means of transportation and reducing the disadvantages of mechanical transportation modes. This paper discusses the role of complete streets can play in developing the urban environment in the Alyarmok District of Baghdad.
 
 Method/design/approach: The linear regression method used to analyze the opinions of 100 respondents surveyed in the study area in order to find the relationship between the urban environment and the complete street elements.
 
 Theoretical framework: The Modern trends in urban planning aim to find alternatives to the policies of traditional transportation planning that focus on vehicular mobility.
 
 Results and conclusion: This paper concluded that the implementation of a complete street strategy in the study area will lead to the development of urban environments.
 
 Research implications: Encouraging street users to switch to active and public transportation and reduce dependence on vehicles.
 
 Originality/value: This paper can contribute to finding solutions to problems of urban environment degradation, which suffers from traffic congestion and its associated problems.

An exploration of multiuser perceptions of a Norwegian Complete Streets modification using interim design strategies

The need for cities worldwide to embrace sustainable transportation alternatives has given rise to innovative planning and design practices such as the use of Complete Streets. This research article presents an approach that utilizes interim design strategies to investigate users’ perceptions of Complete Streets modifications and their impact on travel behavior. The study focused on a major street in Trondheim, Norway, where various low-cost interim street changes were implemented to enhance conditions for pedestrians, cyclists, and transit users. These changes involved measures such as a ban on through-driving, a road diet (lane reduction initiative), bicycle lanes with armadillo separators, the deactivation of traffic lights, and parklet installation. Multiuser perceptions of the modifications were explored with the help of 832 online ex-post survey responses from city center residents and street users. Additionally, manual before-and-after counts of cyclists were conducted on the target street and three parallel streets. The findings revealed that employing interim design strategies enables transport planners to gain practical insights into the effectiveness of different Complete Streets measures. This, in turn, facilitates the optimization of roads for diverse travel modes and user needs.

Sustainable urban development of mobility and streetscape in historic city quarters, an ancient street in Alexandria - Egypt, as a case study

A historic urban district is a quarter built many years ago and contains valuable memories over a limited area with narrow streets for pedestrians, primitive transportation, and outdoor activities. Over the years, many districts have been growing randomly, and motorized transport has enlarged significantly and created severe problems. Improving the situation needs heritage protection and sustainable mobility development on its streets. The desired mobility focuses on managing travel demands, accessibility for all street users, and enhancing the environment. This research presents a proposed approach with an application framework for sustainable mobility development on historic roads according to its current conditions at the strategic level. It includes sequential phases to define desired goals, formulate and evaluate planning scenarios containing different action measures based on sustainability indicators and application of micro-simulation. In case of inappropriate evaluation results, approach phases allow the modification and re-evaluation of additional measures until deciding an acceptable solution. The application is limited to Ras El-Teen Palace Street, prominent in the ancient El Gomrok district, Alexandria and restricted to a Do-Nothing solution and a planning scenario. The application proves the approach's practicality and feasibility by improving traffic behaviour. Furthermore, the planning approach can indicate technical recommendations for further improvement.

Quantifying the importance of urban trees to people and nature through tree removal experiments

Abstract Experimentally manipulating urban tree abundance and structure can help explore the complex and reciprocal interactions among people, biodiversity and the services urban forests provide to humans and wildlife. In this study we take advantage of scheduled urban tree removals to experimentally quantify the benefits that urban trees provide to humans and wildlife. Specifically, we aim to understand how trees affect: (1) bird and mammal abundance and diversity, as well as an ecological process (predation); and (2) people's perception responses, such as the importance that people assign to the trees, wildlife and the site. We designed two independent Before‐after‐control‐impact (BACI) experiments based on two sites where tree removals were occurring (impact sites): an urban park and a residential street, both located in the Greater Melbourne Area, Australia. We selected three control sites for each impact site, or four per experiment. Ecological data were collected through field surveys, and social data on people's perceptions through intercept questionnaires among park and street users. Data were analysed using a GLMMs to determine the combined effect of time (before and after) and treatment (impact and controls). At the urban park, the abundance of nectarivorous birds and possums both declined by 62% following tree removal, while invertebrate predation increased by 82.1%. The level of importance people assigned to the urban park and to the trees at the site decreased after tree removal, and people's attitudes towards tree planting became more positive, meaning more people wanted to plant more trees at the site. None of these changes were observed in the street experiment where fewer and smaller trees were removed, suggesting that effects may be highly specific to context, where factors such as tree volume, diversity and arrangement influence the magnitude of social–ecological effects observed. By demonstrating the social–ecological effect of removing urban trees, we provide evidence that urban trees provide critical habitat to urban wildlife and are perceived as an important aspect of the human experience of urban nature. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Micromobility for first and last mile access to public transport: institutional perspectives from Perth, WA

ABSTRACT The rapid uptake of small electric personal mobility devices, collectively referred to as micromobility, has created a challenge for planners, policymakers and regulators seeking to mitigate externalities and integrate these modes into urban transport systems. First and last mile access to high frequency and reliable public transport has been identified as one area that micromobility can contribute. However, to successfully address the first and last mile problem, micromobility requires supportive institutions across the transport system and mobility spaces that constitute first and last mile access. Using Perth, Western Australia as a case study, this research draws on a Delphi Survey with transport planners and policymakers, exploring the institutional dimension of first and last mile for micromobility. The research shows that planners and policymakers should focus on the broader eco-system of rules, regulations and practices that contribute to first and last mile access, paying attention to the spatial and social context of cities. Key issues to enhancing micromobility in first and last mile access are connectivity and safety, both for micromobility users and other road and street users. Practitioner pointers: Planners and policymakers seeking to integrate micromobility into the urban transport task should consider the whole set of institutions that make up FLM journeys, encompassing land use planning, street and road networks, station facilities and public transport services. Both formal institutions, representing laws and regulations, and informal institutions, including social practices, education, and enforcement, are important to consider. Planners and policymakers should adopt innovative and flexible approaches such as trials and evaluations to ensure that micromobility does not lead to unsustainable outcomes for urban transport systems.

Examining the Role of Innovative Streets in Enhancing Urban Mobility and Livability for Sustainable Urban Transition: A Review

As an essential component of urban public spaces, urban streets play a crucial role in shaping cities and promoting urban sustainability. This article focuses on innovative streets as a catalyst for sustainable urban transition. It reviews the theoretical discussions, and empirical evidence on innovative planning approaches for urban streets. For that purpose, measures related to innovative streets are divided into two broad categories: urban mobility and urban livability. The results indicate that integrating smart street facilities with the Internet of Things (IoT), adopting a combination of grid and radial street networks, and fostering a safe street environment are vital in promoting urban mobility. Conversely, a walkable, rideable, and human-oriented street environment enhances social interaction and urban livability. The street’s dual function as a commuting and social space highlights the interplay between rising mobility and intensive street usage, leading to competition for street space. To mitigate these conflicts and advance sustainable urban transitions, enhancing street safety, reducing disparities in planning and user behavior, and accommodating the needs of all street users is crucial. Overall, the evidence supports the contribution of streets to sustainable urban transition.

Road User Position and Speed Estimation via Deep Learning from Calibrated Fisheye Videos.

In this paper, we present a deep learning processing flow aimed at Advanced Driving Assistance Systems (ADASs) for urban road users. We use a fine analysis of the optical setup of a fisheye camera and present a detailed procedure to obtain Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) coordinates along with the speed of the moving objects. The camera to world transform incorporates the lens distortion function. YOLOv4, re-trained with ortho-photographic fisheye images, provides road user detection. All the information extracted from the image by our system represents a small payload and can easily be broadcast to the road users. The results show that our system is able to properly classify and localize the detected objects in real time, even in low-light-illumination conditions. For an effective observation area of 20 m × 50 m, the error of the localization is in the order of one meter. Although an estimation of the velocities of the detected objects is carried out by offline processing with the FlowNet2 algorithm, the accuracy is quite good, with an error below one meter per second for urban speed range (0 to 15 m/s). Moreover, the almost ortho-photographic configuration of the imaging system ensures that the anonymity of all street users is guaranteed.

The Street User’s Diversity and Its Impact on Livelihood Activities in the Central Business District

The Street User’s Diversity and Its Impact on Livelihood Activities in the Central Business District

Critical Challenges of Street Users in Inner Cities

Critical Challenges of Street Users in Inner Cities

Potency-Enhancing Synthetics in the Drug Overdose Epidemic: Xylazine ("Tranq"), Fentanyl, Methamphetamine, and the Displacement of Heroin in Philadelphia and Tijuana.

Multiple transformations-referred to as "waves" in a panoply of recent public health and law enforcement publications-have rendered North American drug markets increasingly toxic since the early 2010s. The introduction of exceptionally potent synthetic sedatives and stimulants is initiating a new generation of drug injectors into co-use of opioids and methamphetamine, catapulting rates of deadly overdoses and infectious diseases. Drawing on extensive participant-observation research in Philadelphia (2007-present) and Tijuana (2018-present), we document the experience of street-based drug users across these two North American cities to focus on regional shifts in narcotics supplies and endpoint user preferences. We link the dramatic proliferation of fentanyl, methamphetamine, xylazine, and Mexican white powder heroin to: 1) pre-existing drug supply networks on the western and eastern coasts of the North American subcontinent; 2) material characteristics of local heroin supplies in pre-fentanyl opiate markets (Mexican black tar vs. Colombian off-white powder heroin); and 3) racialized repression/incarceration of drug sellers and users on both sides of the Mexico-US border. The article combines economic and medical anthropology to develop an ethnographically-informed political economy approach to an urgent public health challenge among street-based drug users with the highest overdose mortality rates in the US Northeastern Rust Belt and the Northwestern Mexican borderland metroplex anchored by Tijuana. It foregrounds street users' experiences in real time amidst rapidly shifting narcotics supply chains, linking market-driven logics of profit-seeking to the war on drugs' prohibitionist policy context, highlighting increasing toxic impacts on vulnerable sectors across regions.

Intelligent control and reduce energy consumption of smart street lighting system

Public lighting is one of the criteria for the development of society, in addition to which it is important in human life, as it ensures safety and security during the night, but this may lead to an increase in energy consumption and therefore there is a deficit in energy bills. This research offers a smart street lighting system that has been implemented and tested at pilot site consists of 9 LED lights in order to reduce energy consumption without compromising the security and safety of street users. The developed system control solution relied on combining the effectiveness of the system with reduced installation costs, As soon as the user enters the street, his movement is detected using a motion sensor, so the controller processes this information and raises the intensity of the lighting around the street user’s area, then sends a message via a wireless network to the next controller, which in turn raises the intensity of the lighting, thus increasing the intensity of lighting in front of the user rather than behind. Through experimental results obtained, the system has proven its effectiveness in achieving energy savings up to 50% depending on the use of the smart control scenario.

Desain lanskap jalan (Studi Kasus Jalan Dr. Muwardi Denpasar)

Street in urban areas has an important function to support human activity and social interaction. That matter can be achieved by a good streetscape planning based on regulations and standards for streetscape design. The aim of streetscape planning is to give safety and amenities for street user in urban area. This research took place in Dr. Muwardi street Denpasar. Dr. Muwardi street’s located inside Denpasar City civic center well known as Niti Mandala area. Lack of streetscape planning makes street activities unorganized. A number of street vendors that attract visitor with personal transportation caused a street dysfunction. This study aims to design a good streetscape, and optimize the potential and solve the problems in Dr. Muwardi street. The research used a descriptive qualitative methode through inventory, analysis, synthesis, concept making, planning, and pre-design phase. The result shown that the street design was devided into trading space, pedestrian space, and traffic space. Trading spaces organized by rearrange the street vendor trading zone. Pedestrian space designed by adding sidewalk and street amenities, meanwhile traffic area designed by adjusting streetscape standart into the site. To enchance local characteristic and aesthetic value to the streetscape, additional street landscape trees from Gumi Banten plant list is applied.

Activity Towards a Safety Environment in Traditional Street of Old Kajang Town

In urban design, streets are one of the important elements that function as public spaces, especially in Malaysia. The image of a street reflects the time as well as demonstrates the image of the city. Hence, a street with a strong sense of safety and walkability, simultaneously contributes to the similarity of the character of the place. However, the recent development of the heritage town shows a lack of activity occurring at night, hence displaying a less secure atmosphere for the place. Therefore, the objective of the article is to discuss the activities that contribute to the safe environment in ‘Jalan Mendaling’ and ‘Jalan Tukang’, ‘Bandar Warisan Kajang Selangor’. These three case studies of traditional streets were chosen as they are considered as public spaces. This research adopted a qualitative method, including the interview and field observation techniques. There were 20 respondents among the street users, from both static and mobile were interviewed. The data collected was analysed through a triangulation approach and further explained through literature evidence prior to the development of the finding. The findings show that there are several factors that contribute to the safe environment in the case studies area. It includes mixed development with residential typology, diversification of business activities, and business operating hours. The findings contributed to the architect, urban designer, and town planner in further enhancing the street design in terms of its liveability, walkability, and quality of safe streets.

Data-Driven Approach to Assess Street Safety: Large-Scale Analysis of the Microscopic Design

Safety is an important quality of street space that affects people’s psychological state and behavior in many ways. Previous large-scale assessment of street safety focuses more on social and physical factors and has less correlation with spatial design, especially the microscopic design. Limited by data and methods, street safety assessment related to microscopic design is mostly conducted on the small scale. Based on multisource big data, this study conducts a data-driven approach to assess the safety of street microscope design on a large scale from the perspective of individual perception. An assessment system including four dimensions of walkability, spatial enclosure, visual permeability, and vitality is constructed, which reflects the individual perceptions of the street space. Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and location-based service (LBS) data are used to verify the effectiveness of the assessment method. The results show that multisource big data can effectively measure the physical elements and design features of streets, reflecting street users’ perception of vision, function, architecture, and street form, as well as the spatial selectivity based on their judgment of safety. The measurement of multidimensional connotations and the fusion of multiple data mining technologies promote the accuracy and effectiveness of the assessment method. Street safety presents the spatial distribution of high-value aggregation and low-value dispersion. Street safety is relatively low in areas with a large scale, lack of street interface, large amount of transit traffic, and high-density vegetation cover. The proposed method and the obtained results can be a reference for humanized street design and sustainable urban traffic planning and management.

MMLOS-based study of central streets: re-planning Beyhaq St., Sabzevar, Iran

Planners have been seeking new urban solutions to increase the presence of citizens once again without any constraints to ensure a safe urban space and provide equal opportunities for using transportation modes. Multi-modal level of service, used as a tool for analyzing complete streets, facilitates the creation of a fair and equal environment for all users and the enhancements of public safety and security against road accidents. The main purpose of this study is to resolve the problems of urban space allocation of central streets to all users in cities of middle-income countries that lie in historical context. The analysis is based on the multi-modal level of service indicators and is influenced by efficient plans and global policy strengths. In this regard, identifying the characteristics affecting the road network system in the high-income country plans is inspiring for this research. In this paper by probing the case study and identifying the most important criteria affecting the comfort of street users, the proposed planning framework is presented in two stages: strategies and alternatives. The alternatives are presented at 3 levels based on the type of intervention, which is weighted by the AHP method. Then, the best and most practical alternative is selected based on the local criteria fitting the conditions of Sabzevar city with the TOPSIS technique. The results indicate that historical contexts, especially in the core of the cities, require conservative approaches; so, as much as possible, without physical destruction, the existing spaces need to distribute among all urban users in the most optimal way for ease of movement. Therefore, in Beyhaq Street, as a historical street in the center of Sabzevar city, by inspiring the methods of global traffic planning, a contextual format of devising has been presented to improve traffic problems.

Literature Review on Automatic Streets Lighting Systems in Residential Areas in Nigeria

Abstract: Street lighting has emerged as an essential factor in strategies for crime prevention in residential areas and realization of sustainable growth. The idea is to improve security for street users during the night by guaranteeing a luminance level. This paper introduces a brief investigation of previous researchers on automatic street lighting systems design and implementation. The research adopts an extensive review of literature such as conference papers, journal articles, internet sources, books to research on automated street lighting systems for residential areas in Nigeria. This research concluded that by automating the street lighting system, the lights comes on automatically in the hours of darkness and goes off by itself when it senses the sunlight coming out in the day time. These lightings expose the activities going on within and around our premises at night time when the natural source of lights have become weakened. The study further recommends that future authors should design efficient lighting system in residential areas in other to prevent crimes in the community. Keywords: Energy Efficient: Lighting Systems: Crime Prevention: Residential Areas: ZigBee: Nigeria