Journal of Urban Planning and Development

With the rapid growth of tourism in China, the spatial conflict between tourists and the host community has become a major issue in historic neighborhood design. This study employed big data and pedestrian simulation technologies in the improvement design of Pingjiang Historic Quarter. Multisource big data including the cell phone signal data of WeChat (social media application), point of interest (POI) data, and field survey statistics have been processed in geographic information systems (GIS), statistical product and service solutions (SPSS), and the simulation software AnyLogic to diagnose the current facility shortage and traffic problems in the study area, and to calculate and test the key parameters for the simulation modeling of alternative schemes with emphasis on facility location and pedestrian traffic. Results showed that a more centralized layout of new tourist attractions on the northwestern portion of the vacant land to be developed could reduce the through traffic of tourists in residential zones, and the joint development of urban mass transit and the new Visitor Center in the southeastern portion could alleviate current traffic congestion.

Architects, urban designers, and city planners witness a contemporary lack of imagination regarding new urban form typologies. Most proposals have swung between two well-defined extremes: the dense, traditional block and the strips/towers defined by the modernist principles. More recent yet distinctive proposals are rare, even as the challenges of urban environments have changed. Based on the concept of diversity, one notably acclaimed exception is Christian de Portzamparc's open block (îlot ouvert), proposed as a set of flexible, interdependent rules that ensures an attractive, varied urban scene, and applied in Masséna, a new neighborhood in Paris. However, this new typology has raised some issues, such as the necessary design efforts or the developer's uncertainties as to buildable surface associated with flexibility of form. Computational design tools (CDT) provide an opportunity to explore and quantify the performance and limits of new urban form typologies. Using CDT, this study first confirmed that the rules stated by Portzamparc were sufficient and consistent to achieve the intended urban forms, and that these forms are translatable into common design code parameters. Second, this study discussed the open block as a new form type, by framing its degree of diversity. Finally, this study checked the utility of CDT during the decision-support process and concluded its potentially wider convenience to explore renewed morphological creativity in urban designers beyond rigid design codes and standards.

Energy-related human behavior in buildings is difficult to define and quantify, yet critical to our understanding of total building energy consumption. It substantially influences energy consumption and saving. In the United States, residential and commercial buildings account for more than 70% of the total electrical energy consumed in the country. This paper explores the implementation of an online energy game, e-footprints, which aims to collect data about occupants' energy consumption and saving, and summarizes the feedback related to the first prototype of the user interface. The game was tested with 110 international students. The study focuses on the visualization, aesthetics, and usability of the e-footprints energy game, as these are the important elements of a player's interaction with the user interface and greatly influence the game play and the data that can be gathered. The paper concludes with a summary of the findings and general recommendations that may be useful for others using serious online urban planning games.

Urban sprawl has become a common phenomenon due to rapid global population growth. An understanding of the inherent characteristics and a quantification of the extent of urban sprawl are sorely lacking but urgently required. We measured urban sprawl globally at the metropolitan scale using remote sensed data and census information from the years 2000 and 2010. The results indicate that, globally, from the static perspective, metropolitan areas (MAs) had become more sprawl-like in 2010 than the year 2000. As income grew, urban sprawl usually became more severe. Moreover, from a dynamic perspective, all MAs had grown in a sprawling manner compared with the patterns in the base year of 2000 and within the same income group. The results provide evidence to explain the process of urban development, while at the same time assisting urban planners in considering the potential risks of urban sprawl and inefficient development at different stages of urban evolution.

On-street parking is a key issue in both developed and developing countries as the burgeoning gap between available parking spaces and demand for parking has resulted in unmanageable on-street parking situations, especially on major streets in central business district (CBD) areas. The current global trends of managing on-street parking are geared toward performance-based pricing. The formulation of such demand management measures warrants benchmarking of on-street parking efficiency, in addition to a microscopic assessment of on-street parking scenarios. To understand this objective, CBD areas in four major metropolitan cities in western India were selected. A microscopic assessment of on-street parking accumulation at the study sites was carried out by collecting data at 10-min intervals using license plates during peak parking hours. The collected data were then analyzed at different data intervals, varying from 10 min to 60 min. Microscopic assessment of accumulation revealed that the data-monitoring interval affected on-street parking characteristics. Turnover (equivalent two-wheeler spaces per hour per bay, E2WS/h/bay), which signifies efficiency of parking space, was evaluated for different monitoring intervals. To benchmark parking efficiency, turnover was segregated into different levels to represent parking efficiency levels (PELs). Optimum PELs to facilitate the formulation of performance-based parking policies in CBD areas of developing countries were derived. In the context of the PELs developed and optimal PELs, subsidized parking and space-restrained, time-restrained, and dynamic pricing policies were suggested as possible on-street parking policies.

Winter Storm Jonas had a significant impact on the transportation system in New York City. However, transportation system disruptions due to extreme weather events can be difficult to study using traditional data sources. In this study, a new data set from a smartphone application (simply referred to as an “app”) was utilized to examine changes in requests for Uber during Winter Storm Jonas. First, visualizations of app utilization data were conducted. Then, the rate of Uber requests compared with normal weather conditions were calculated. Finally, Uber requests per hour were decomposed into the seasonal, trend-cycle, and remainder components. The results revealed that requests for Uber increased substantially on the last day of the storm as a travel ban was being lifted and transit service was being restored; this suggests that ridehailing services may play a role in recovery after transportation system shutdowns due to extreme weather events. These empirical findings are valuable for transportation providers to better manage and communicate with the public during severe weather events, particularly considering the lack of publicly available ridehailing data sets.

The penetration of devices integrated with location-based services and internet services has generated massive data about the everyday life of citizens and tracked their activities happening in cities. Crowdsourced data, such as social media data, points of interest (POIs) data, and collaborative websites, generated by the crowd, have become fine-grained proxy data of urban activity and widely used in research in urban studies. However, due to the heterogeneity of data types of crowdsourced data and the limitation of previous studies mainly focusing on a specific application, a systematic review of crowdsourced data mining for urban activity is still lacking. In order to fill the gap, this paper conducts a literature search in the Web of Science database, selecting 226 highly related papers published between 2013 and 2019. Based on these papers, the review first conducts a bibliometric analysis identifying underpinning domains, pivot scholars, and papers around this topic. The review also synthesizes previous research into three parts: main applications of different data sources and data fusion; application of spatial analysis in mobility patterns, functional areas, and event detection; and application of sociodemographic and perception analysis in city attractiveness, demographic characteristics, and sentiment analysis. The challenges of this type of data are also discussed in the end. This study provides a systematic and current review for both researchers and practitioners interested in the applications of crowdsourced data mining for urban activity.

The world economy has witnessed the proliferation of economic clusters and the growth of transitioning economies. This study attempts to further understand the roles that economic clusters play in the evolving urban economic space in a Chinese transitional city from the perspectives of regional industrial restructuring and urban spatial transformation. An exploratory approach is applied that combines a factor analysis and spatial data analysis to examine the transitioning process of Beijing's spatial-economic development between 1987 and 2002. This was the period when substantial economic and spatial restructuring happened in the city since the transition from a planned economy to a market economy started in 1978. Two spatial-economic models were derived to illustrate this transitioning process from a manufacturing-driven structure to a clustered service-driven structure. The key drivers analyzed include institutional reforms, market economy mechanisms, and global forces. The researchers argue that this cluster approach can advance the theories on transitional urban restructuring as applied to contemporary city development.

In recent years, there has been a surge in research with respect to urban regeneration worldwide. Urban regeneration is usually regarded as a path for economic growth through the reconstruction of dilapidated urban areas in cities. Nevertheless, a cluster of factors, including those with respect to the environment, economy, society, and culture, influences urban regeneration. Furthermore, genuinely effective and sustainable regeneration processes should be progrowth on all fronts. Few existing studies explicitly interpret which features that regeneration projects reflecting inclusion should have and how to implement the urban regeneration. Therefore, this paper proposes the concept of inclusive urban regeneration combining nature-based solutions (NbS) with society-based solutions (SbS). And its connotation and features, as well as content and objectives, are clearly elaborated. In addition, this paper explains how to carry out inclusive urban regeneration from two aspects of spatial planning and social construction. In order to ensure its implementation for possible difficulties, the guarantee mechanism is also highlighted. This paper can be used as a theoretical guide for subsequent urban regeneration.

Because proper urban planning and design can improve transit sharing, the impact of the built environment on transit use has attracted the attention of many researchers. Factors with different geographical scales such as individual characteristics, neighborhood built environment, and regional features can influence transit use. However, the nested structure of geographical scales has not been considered in previous research studies. By considering the nested geographic features, a bilevel hierarchical linear model (HLM) is established in this study to explore the combined influence of the surrounding built-environment factors at the neighborhood level and the socioeconomic variables at the regional level on bus transit trip rates. The model is implemented based on land-use data and bus smart card data of approximately 3 million records of 9 districts and more than 1,600 bus stops in Wuhan, China. The results present evident differences in the effect of the built environment on transit use in different spatial districts. The population and public transportation investment at the regional level are important factors leading to these differences and influence transit use. Based on the geographically nested features in the data, the proposed model reveals the impacts of the built environment on transit use and investigates the causality of the reported discrepancies. Furthermore, combined with the model results, optimization strategies for improving bus transit use are proposed for a region in Wuhan. The proposed method offers theoretical and technical support for transit-oriented urban development.

Development of a sustainable urban transportation system undoubtedly depends to a large extent on the road users' perception being inclined toward the consideration of walking as the main mode of transportation for short-distance trips. In essence, the overall service quality (SQ) of sidewalks will affect the performance of the main carriageway and thus the overall transportation system, no matter how good the roads and vehicles are. In this study, potential major variables influencing the SQ of sidewalks were summarized. The structural equation modeling (SEM) approach was used to establish relationships among these variables and the overall SQ of sidewalks to identify the most significant variables affecting the level of service (LOS). In total, 15 observed variables were identified considering the mixed traffic condition in Dhaka city, Bangladesh. These variables were further clustered under three latent variable groups designated through factor analysis as Physical aspects, Security system, and Side friction. A questionnaire survey was conducted at different locations inside the Dhaka metropolitan area to collect users' opinion on the existing SQ of sidewalks and their expectations regarding these variables. A total of 544 pedestrians that use sidewalks on a daily basis participated in the survey. Among the latent variables, Security system was found to be the most significant in affecting the LOS of sidewalks, and Security for sexual harassment was perceived as the most important observed variable grouped under this category of latent variables. Overall, this paper denotes the significant SQ variables of a sidewalk, which will help transportation planners, engineers, and policy makers to adopt appropriate measures in building sustainable cities of the future in the context of developing countries.

Urban planning decision-makers face wicked problems and are required to make complex decisions regarding the functioning of cities. Spatial decision-support tools (SDSTs) have the potential to change the way decisions are being made and play an important role in shaping future cities. Yet decision-makers experience challenges around SDSTs. This article analyzes what lessons can be drawn for the wider community from New Zealand’s urban planning context and SDSTs developed for New Zealand’s cities on (1) how SDSTs might influence decision-making; (2) what the challenges are toward the appropriate adoption of spatial tools; and (3) how data, technical, and procedural issues may influence the adoption of SDSTs in planning practices. It contributes an integrated view, drawing from literature on complex systems, theories of sociotechnical interactions, and synoptic planning practices based on engagement, and a survey of urban planning stakeholders. The key challenges identified are around technological and user subjectivity and tailored recognition of local contexts. These can be addressed through flexible SDSTs developed with stakeholder engagement and by viewing SDSTs in a wider, spatial sociotechnical system to fully leverage their potential and ensure improved urban outcomes accounting for the local context.

Google Street View (GSV) is increasingly being used to evaluate streetscapes for research in fields as diverse as public health, architecture and urban design, and biology. Many researchers have evaluated GSV as a tool for making observations. Most studies have come to the general conclusion that the tool is valid for observing large, permanent objects such as buildings but is not reliable for observing small, transient objects such as litter. This article catalogs nine evaluations of GSV as an alternative observational tool to in-person surveys of streets. The analysis studies the evaluation along three primary lines: the design, the questions, and the similarity of the observations between the two modes of observation. The article focuses on five characteristics: food-related land uses, sidewalks, trees, graffiti, and litter. The article finds that litter cannot be reliably observed through GSV but that the other characteristics may be observed through GSV. It concludes that the two most important factors in determining whether the GSV observations are valid are the time the images were recorded in GSV and the training and expertise of the observers.

Surface parking lots located without careful planning and appropriate regulations, combined with the visual clutter of related signs and equipment, degrade cityscapes. The negative impacts on the cityscape are especially problematic in historic cities such as Kyoto where close attention is paid to historic preservation. In this study, we analyzed the spatial distribution of visitor surface parking within the historic central districts of two cities—Kyoto and Philadelphia—to examine the discontinuity of streetscapes. We also explored how different approaches to historic preservation influenced surface parking locations in these two cities. The analysis results showed that the location patterns of surface parking differed significantly between the two cities. Many small-scale surface parking lots below 500 m² were distributed throughout the entire city of Kyoto, while a smaller number of large-scale surface parking lots were concentrated in the center of Philadelphia’s historic district. The scattered spatial patterns cause discontinuity of the streetscape in both cities, but to a more substantial magnitude in Kyoto. It is recommended that municipalities with historic significance incorporate appropriate parking plans within the scope of historic preservation.

Environmental pollution incidents affect urban residents and the natural environment. This article employs hedonic price models and a difference-in-difference (DID) approach to examine how widely in space an environmental incident affects housing prices and how great this effect is over several time periods. Using the well-known 2014 Hangzhou Pesticide Plant (HPP) pollution cleanup incident as an example, this research confirms the following: (1) This pesticide plant incident depreciated house prices within 3 km by 2.955%, that is by 41,712 yuan, at the 5% significance level. (2) The devaluation persisted even after the removal of the pollution. Our results suggest that environmental events can devaluate nearby properties beyond the extent of the actual pollution by imposing a “quasi-stigma” (negative perception) on these houses. This effect can be persistent and hard to overturn and arises from perceived disamenitities, taints on the properties.

Desire lines are unpaved tracks which are commonly used by pedestrians alongside paved paths wherever they are available. These tracks are generally shorter to travel, but unsafe due to uneven surface, insect bite, and slippery surface during wet weather. This study aims to understand the influence of person-specific attributes on pedestrians’ preference toward a desire line despite its closure for use. A study site is selected and pedestrians are surveyed in three stages when: (1) both the paved path and the desire line are available, (2) immediately after the desire line is closed, and (3) several months after the closure of the desire line. It is observed that the number of pedestrians using the desire line increases fourfold between stages 2 and 3. In addition, the stage 3 dataset is analyzed using a latent class choice model which segregates individuals into segments based on their characteristics and choice behavior. The results show that a segment comprising 40% of pedestrians depict a high tendency toward selecting the desire line. It is also found that pedestrians who are young, fit, and graduate are more inclined to use the desire line. The findings from this study can be used to inform urban planners in proposing strategies and measures aimed at minimizing the use of desire lines among pedestrians.

Based on a spatial vector autoregression (VAR) model and generalized spatiotemporal impulse responses, this paper analyzes urban house price diffusion in East China. The results suggest that a certain amount of spatial and temporal diffusion of neighboring cities exists within the study area. When the central city of the urban agglomeration, Shanghai (SH), and the subcenter city, Hangzhou (HZ), are assumed to be the price diffusion center cities, more than half the surrounding cities are significantly affected by any house price changes in the diffusion center city. Current price changes in SH and HZ have the greatest scope of influence, while SH is the most unlikely city to be affected by house price changes in other cities in the long term. The central city, SH, has a wider radiation range of house price diffusion, while HZ, as a subcenter, has a greater but shorter-lasting impact on the prices of houses within a closer range. However, SH and HZ are not completely dominant in the regional housing market. The house price diffusion mechanism is more significant under conditions of economic connection. Transportation, accessibility, and information dissemination could also explain house price diffusion in East China.

With the advent of the Internet era, network data have become an important carrier characterizing residents' geography behavior. Tencent Migration big data can fully, dynamically, immediately, and visually record a population migration trajectory with location-based service (LBS) technology. Through the Tencent Migration data platform, data on daily population floating among 346 cities in China during the 2018 Spring Festival travel rush (SFTR) are obtained. The characteristics and spatial pattern of population flow among cities are analyzed from the perspectives of the population flow distribution level, hierarchical aggregation of the distributed network system, population flow spatial patterns, and network characteristics. Three-hundred forty-six cities were divided into nine communities. The results are as follows: the net inflow routes of the population in the three periods all show a diamond-shaped skeleton supported by a cross-shaped one. The population distribution centers are mainly concentrated in the four major urban agglomerations. The clear hierarchical structure and level distinction of population distribution centers can be identified, and there is a positive correlation between the level of city administrative and the influence of population floating. Population flows of most cities are in a relatively balanced state. The degree of urban network nodes is the power-law distribution, so the network is scale free, and the network has small-world characteristic. It provides a new perspective for the study of population mobility and urban network.

Urban greenspaces are garnering attention for their myriad ecosystems and because of the key role they play in making cities sustainable. Despite their relevance, there is no one definition for the term greenspace. Therefore, local governments conceptualize and measure greenspaces in broad and varied ways. This research applied content analysis to 31 municipal urban plans in Mexico to gain insights into the way greenspaces are conceived and evaluated. The results revealed that the legal and regulatory framework for urban greenspaces is outdated and fragmented. In addition, the authors found that of the handful of quantitative urban greenspace indicators, most of which were related to maintenance problems due to limited budgets, only a few addressed greenspace accessibility. These findings suggest that Mexico should develop a national legal framework for urban greenspaces with unified concepts, indicators, and benchmarks that can be adapted to the requirements of regional municipalities. There is a need for greater political support and awareness of the importance of greenspaces for urban sustainability.

Commuter trips are an important part of urban travel, and studying the influencing factors, changing rules, and choice behaviors of urban commuting trips is of great significance for optimizing the urban trip structure. This paper utilizes a nested logit model to investigate commuters' joint choice behavior of commuting time and mode by considering factors including socioeconomic, household, and trip characteristics. Two possible decision-making model structures are proposed: the commuting time-mode structure (time choice is the upper level) and the commuting mode-time structure (mode choice is the upper level). A model specification is conducted in SPSS based on the data of Xi'an urban commuters, and the commuting time-mode structure is demonstrated as the appropriate one by judging the inclusive value of each nest. It indicates that commuters often choose a commuting mode based on commuting time, and the commuting time-mode model is more suitable for fitting commuters' travel choice. The higher the household income, the greater the probability of commuting by taxi or driving alone. Commuting distance strongly and negatively influences mode choice, including walking, bicycling, bus, and taxi. Civil servants, medical staff, teachers, and technical staff are more sensitive to commuting time than are other commuters. Commuters who usually go to work by driving alone may turn to a bus when a car is not available. Increasing total household bicycle ownership will bring competition between bicycle and bus and enhance commuters' willingness to bike to work, especially when the cycling time is above 30 min.

Brownfield redevelopment has become a leitmotiv of urban policies aiming for environmental virtues and the revitalization of cities. Moreover, it appears to be a sustainable solution to the problem of meeting the demand for new development zones without expanding into greenfield sites. However, many obstacles can hinder the effective implementation of such projects. The current article focuses on the brownfield redevelopment policy followed in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and, more specifically, on the Belval project. It highlights its challenges, implementation modalities, public–private partnership arrangements, and also limitations in terms of citizen participation and spatial integration. The results show that the Belval redevelopment project has allowed the preservation of greenfield sites from the equivalent of 3 years of urban expansion (550 ha).

Transit-oriented development (TOD) is a community development strategy that has increasingly gained exposure in urban areas across the United States as a method for reducing urban sprawl and increasing community vitality. Specifically, bikesharing is seen to play a major role in the success of transit-oriented development across urban communities as it increases travel possibilities, encourages public transit connections, and provides opportunities for recreation. This research employed a case study of Zyp BikeShare, a point-to-point bike rental program that began in Birmingham, Alabama, in 2015. We analyzed the bikesharing program in terms of its role in TOD, user catchment areas, transit paths, and usage trends. In doing so, we were able to create a methodology for analyzing specific bikeshare programs. The methodology and lessons could be replicated in assessing bikeshare systems in other cities with similar urban growth and natural characteristics.

The aim of the current study was to identify the critical factors influencing the use of pedestrian skywalk facilities in an Indian context. An interviewer-administered questionnaire survey was conducted to understand the perceptions of pedestrians using the skywalks under existing conditions. The forward stepwise binary logistic regression method was used to identify the potential factors influencing pedestrian preference for using the skywalks in the current scenario. The study revealed that the majority of users were male students and servicemen, age category 13–45 years, who used the skywalk for educational trips or work. Model results revealed that available width, obstructions, safety and security, walk environment, and age are the factors which mostly influence the perception of the skywalk usability. Respondent responses about future usability showed that installation and maintenance of elevators/escalators/ramps, improvement of security, regular maintenance, and removal of obstructions, could influence pedestrian prioritization of such facilities in the future. The outcomes of the study can help planners, engineers, and designers to evaluate the current status of skywalk facilities as well as provide indicators for a coherent solution to encourage greater use of such elevated facilities.

At the backdrop of growing social stratification and urban spatial polarization, social problems arising from injustice in public service facilities among social classes have become increasingly prominent. This study explores the spatial inequity in public service facilities in Xi’an, China, and the impact of public service facilities resources on spatial agglomeration of different social classes. The results show that the spatial distribution of public service facilities in the city is unbalanced. Quality education resources create a positive impact on the spatial agglomeration of upper classes, including social managers and professionals, as well as civil servants. For transportation facility resources, the class of employees of social production and service for life is under such positive impact. A negative correlation is seen between transportation and leisure facility resources, and the class of industrial workers and agricultural laborers.