Journal of Urban Planning and Development

This paper examines the use of simple analytical models to estimate quantitatively the demand for site‐specific commercial and parking space. The influence of locational and other site characteristics on demand is captured and quantified through regression equations for occupancy, based on data from the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, central business district. In addition to site and locational considerations, the use and condition of the building and type of tenant are included in the models. The predicted occupancy is then used to analyze demand. The models are discussed in terms of price impacts, economic influences, and the effects of competing markets. These models are applied to the development of the site of the existing Greyhound bus terminal in Pittsburgh. Development options are identified and costs estimated, which are then compared with revenues based on market rates and predicted occupancy. A net present value analysis is used. Limitations and other applications of the models are also discussed.

Global warming could result in a rise in global mean sea level of 9–29 cm between 1990 and 2030. By the end of the 21st century, global mean sea level could stand 30–110 cm higher than in 1990. Those projections suggest that sea level could rise between 3 and 10 cm per decade during the next century. This is a marked acceleration over the increase of 1–2 cm per decade observed during the past century. How will local governments and citizens respond? What are the obstacles to local government and public cognition of, and response to, sea‐level rise? This paper reviews some of the basic issues involved in responding to accelerated sea‐level rise; the range of possible policy responses; the extent to which local governments and the public perceive and respond to threats of sea‐level rise; and the need for research into the determinants of cognition and response.

This research evaluates 10 methods of promoting residential curbside recycling programs (RCRPs) using data from a survey of RCRPs in the United States. Statistical and fuzzy‐set methods are used to analyze the promotions as evaluated by recycling coordinators. The 10 promotions considered range from personal communication to radio advertisements. Mailed fliers, newspaper advertisements, school education, and hand‐delivered fliers were the most commonly used promotions. Statistical comparisons of recycling coordinator responses suggest that personal communication is evaluated, on average, higher than all other promotions. Mean evaluations for hand‐delivered and mailed fliers, and reminder signs are also high. School education, television advertisements, enclosures in city billings, and newspaper advertisements, though considered somewhat effective, are less effective than all promotions except exhibits at fairs and radio advertisements. Fuzzy‐set mathematics are used to assign linguistic variables to promotion‐evaluation possibility distributions. Linguistic variables retain more information than evaluation means. Whereas identical means can be produced by very different distributions, linguistic variables reflect evaluation‐possibility distribution dispersion as well as central tendency. Several possible areas of future study in this area are introduced.

Lack of coordination in the planning of land use and transportation systems in urban and suburban areas across the country often causes severe traffic congestion problems. Interorganizational coordination can be improved by “hardwiring” communications among the various pertinent agencies. Techniques include: the cross membership of policy boards, the creation of interorganizational management groups, the negotiating of memoranda of understanding, the sharing of technical staffs, the creation of project‐oriented task forces comprising active staff members from pertinent entities, and the contracting out of services to sister organizations with expertise in specific areas. This paper describes how coordination was hardwired among the various land‐use and transportation planning agencies in San Diego, and what the coordination has helped to accomplish.