Matching Items (12)
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- All Subjects: urban planning
- Creators: King, David
- Resource Type: Text
Description
Informal public transport is commonplace in the developing world, but the service exists in the United States as well, and is understudied. Often called "dollar vans", New York's commuter vans serve approximately 120,000 people every day (King and Goldwyn, 2014). While this is a tiny fraction of the New York transit rider population, it is comparable to the total number of commuters who ride transit in smaller cities such as Minneapolis/St Paul and Phoenix. The first part of this study reports on the use of commuter vans in Eastern Queens based on a combination of surveys and a ridership tally, all conducted in summer 2016. It answers four research questions: How many people ride the vans? Who rides the commuter vans? Why do they ride commuter vans? Do commuter vans complement or compete against formal transit? Commuter van ridership in Eastern Queens was approximately 55,000 with a high percentage of female ridership. Time and cost savings were the main factors influencing commuter van ridership. Possession of a MetroCard was shown to negatively affect the frequency of commuter van ridership. The results show evidence of commuter vans playing both a competing and complementary role to MTA bus and subway transit. The second part of this study presents a SWOT analysis results of commuter vans, and the policy implications. It answers 2 research questions: What are the main strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of commuter vans in Eastern Queens? and How do the current policies, rules and regulations affect commuter van operation? The SWOT analysis results show that the commuter van industry is resilient, performs a necessary service, and, with small adjustments that will help reduce operating costs and loss of profits have a chance of thriving in Eastern Queens and the rest of New York City. The study also discusses the mismatch between policy and practice offering recommendations for improvement to ensure that commuter vans continue to serve residents of New York City.
ContributorsMusili, Catherine (Author) / Salon, Deborah (Thesis advisor) / King, David (Committee member) / Kelley, Jason (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
Since 1979, Phoenix has been organized into 15 theoretically self-contained urban villages in order to manage rapid growth. The major objective of the village plan was to decrease demand for personal vehicle use by internalizing travel to the closest village core, or an adjacent village core, instead of expanding travel to one metropolitan core. Phoenix’s transition from a monocentric urban structure to a more polycentric structure has yet to be studied for its efficacy on this goal of turning personal vehicle travel inward. This paper pairs more conventional measures of automobile dependence, such as, use of alternative modes of transportation in place of private vehicle use and commute times, with more nuanced measures of internal travel between work and home, job housing ratio, and job industry breakdowns to describe Phoenix’s reliance on automobiles. Phoenix’s internal travel ratios were higher when compared to adjacent cities and either on-par or lower when compared to non-adjacent cities that were comparable to Phoenix in population density and size.
ContributorsCuiffo, Kathryn Victoria (Author) / King, David (Thesis director) / Salon, Deborah (Committee member) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
The Phoenix area, is known for suburban sprawl which did not happen in isolation but was the result of many external factors. It was not just large environmental and cultural factors that changed over time, but the actual physical characteristics of sprawl that have changed from community to community over the decades. Characteristics like physical size of houses and lot size, along with changes in the residential and commercial design and building style have changed from around the 1950s to present day, with homes being larger and covering more of each parcel. These characteristics were analyzed in 21 communities in the Phoenix area that were built from 1950 to 2019 to find how these characteristics have changed over time. While the issue of sprawl will never fully go away, by learning what the characteristics are that make up the definition of sprawl, stakeholders like cities, planners, and developers will have better knowledge for planning for tomorrow.
ContributorsGallegos, Jairus Donald (Author) / King, David (Thesis director) / Davis, Jonathan (Committee member) / School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
Description
Public transportation is considered a solution to congestion and a tool for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It is becoming popular even in cities with the harshest climate conditions as these cities grow rapidly and are trying to provide sustainable alternatives for their vehicle-oriented communities. A lot must be taken into consideration whendesigning transit systems to reduce riders' vulnerability to heat in cities with high temperatures averaging 40°C during the summer and humidity levels reaching 90 percent. Using transit systems in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Phoenix Metropolitan, United States, as case studies, this paper focuses on both qualitative and quantitative research methods to observe the built environment around public transit stations and measure the temperatures and humidity levels to compare with the experienced temperatures and the built environment observations. The results show that the design of transit stations and the public realm significantly impacts a rider's experience. The findings show that passive cooling, shading, and vegetation as the best practices in the two case studies. Both transit systems have certain elements that work efficiently and other elements that need improvement to provide a better rider experience. Identifying these best practices helps develop recommendations for the future of designing transit systems in desert cities worldwide.
ContributorsAlbastaki, Mohamed (Author) / King, David (Thesis advisor) / Salon, Deborah (Committee member) / Kelley, Jason (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
Description
Transit ridership is declining in most cities throughout America. Public transportation needs to be improved in order for cities to handle urban growth, reduce carbon footprint, and increase mobility across income groups. In order to determine what causes changes in transit ridership, I performed a descriptive analysis of five metro areas in the United States. I studied changes in transit ridership in Dallas, Denver, Minneapolis, Phoenix, and Seattle from 2013 through 2017 to determine where public transportation works and where it does not work. I used employment, commute, and demographic data to determine what affects transit ridership. Each metro area was studied as a separate case because the selected cities are difficult to compare directly. The Seattle metro area was the only metro to increase transit ridership throughout the period of the study. The Minneapolis metro area experienced a slight decline in transit ridership, while Phoenix and Denver declined significantly. The Dallas metro area declined most of the five cities studied. The denser metro areas fared much better than the less dense areas. In order to increase transit ridership cities should increase the density of their city and avoid sprawl. Certain factors led to declines in ridership in certain metro areas but not all. For example, gentrification contributed to ridership decline in Denver and Minneapolis, but Seattle gentrified and increased ridership. Dallas and Phoenix experienced low-levels of gentrification but experienced declining ridership. Therefore, organizations such as the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) who attempt to find the single factor causing the decline in transit ridership, or the one factor that will increase ridership are misguided. Above all, this thesis shows that there is no single factor causing the ridership decline in each metro area, and it is wise to study each metro area as a separate case.
ContributorsBarro, Joshua Andrew (Co-author) / Barro, Joshua (Co-author) / King, David (Thesis director) / Salon, Deborah (Committee member) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism & Mass Comm (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
Following the prolific car-centric design of the twentieth century, many cities are grappling with increasing pedestrian deaths and greater vehicle congestion. To solve these problems, many of these cities are expressing a desire to create more effective and vibrant walkable places. Aside from safety, numerous benefits come from pedestrian friendly communities, including greater economic activity, better health, greater social capital, and less environmental impact. Although there are several tools already available, evaluating an area’s current walkability situation is still varied, and evaluating a pedestrian’s thoughts on safety and enjoyability is also difficult. The benefits of walkability and past and present tools are summarized in this paper. The goal of this paper was to create a walkability evaluation tool that included smaller, often overlooked aspects of the sidewalk and site design that contribute to a pedestrian’s experience and safety. The author developed a tool containing 40 different measures of the sidewalk concerning safety, connectivity, enjoyment, and accessibility, as well as created methods for visualizing the data. The tool was then utilized to gather data at six Phoenix-metro area intersections using a combination of on street data collection and GIS software and Google Street View. The paper also details suggestions on how to act upon the data and improve walkability in an area, including minor street alterations and larger policy shifts in zoning codes. Although in preliminary data collection the tool provides a good snapshot of the data, further development of the tool and assessment of its reliability are needed, as well as greater data collection to compare evaluated areas to a larger region.
ContributorsLaufer, Daniel (Author) / King, David (Thesis director) / Coseo, Paul (Committee member) / School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-12
Description
The Barrett Honors College website contains a lot of information that isn’t easily accessible by Honors Students. Many honors students have trouble finding the correct information they need. Important information is scattered all over the website making it difficult for honors students to find and understand the information they need. One example of this is the requirements for Lower and Upper Division credit. This website displays the upper and lower division credit needed for a student to graduate from the honors college via a noninteractive flowchart. Many high school seniors find it difficult to understand the mundane flowchart outlining the required honors credit that is required for graduating from Barrett at Arizona State University. Also, it is confusing for many transfer students with unique circumstances to determine the necessary requirements for them to graduate as a Barrett student.
These difficult flowcharts and confusing websites have a huge impact on a student’s ability to adequately receive the information they need and, in the end, can have a negative impact on their ultimate decision when deciding if Barrett is right for them. A better user experience can be a more effective way of displaying information to students. A better design that allows to user more interaction would allow for the user to better understand the information they are presented. Instead of a monotone flowchart displaying the requirements necessary to graduate with honors status, A web application where a user can input their information and get an output of the necessary requirements tailored to the unique circumstance would be more informative, useful, and easier to use. The web app would take information such as a student’s year, whether it be an incoming freshman or transfer student, and their current and previous course credit to determine the specific number of honors credits, The Human Event courses, and Thesis project required for this user to complete the requirements for Barrett Honors College. This application would give the user a better understanding of what is required of them and in turn lead to a better user experience.
These difficult flowcharts and confusing websites have a huge impact on a student’s ability to adequately receive the information they need and, in the end, can have a negative impact on their ultimate decision when deciding if Barrett is right for them. A better user experience can be a more effective way of displaying information to students. A better design that allows to user more interaction would allow for the user to better understand the information they are presented. Instead of a monotone flowchart displaying the requirements necessary to graduate with honors status, A web application where a user can input their information and get an output of the necessary requirements tailored to the unique circumstance would be more informative, useful, and easier to use. The web app would take information such as a student’s year, whether it be an incoming freshman or transfer student, and their current and previous course credit to determine the specific number of honors credits, The Human Event courses, and Thesis project required for this user to complete the requirements for Barrett Honors College. This application would give the user a better understanding of what is required of them and in turn lead to a better user experience.
ContributorsGandhe, Nikhil (Author) / Menees, Jodi (Thesis director) / Barnett, Jessica (Committee member) / Davis, Jonathan (Committee member) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
Throughout the history of urban planning, different visionaries have attempted to promote their own utopian visions of cities, thus transforming urban planning thought regarding cities of tomorrow. By researching the utopian planned visions of Paolo Soleri, Ebenezer Howard, Le Corbusier, and Frank Lloyd Wright, different lessons can be taken from and instilled in a future city plan in the making, Telosa. Marc Lore and Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) have plans to start construction of this utopian desert city by 2030. Examining past utopian city visions can shed light on planning principles and forms of governance, as well as social, political, and economic processes that go together with this style of planning. Arcosanti, The Garden Cities, Letchworth, The Contemporary City, The Radiant City, Brasilia, Broadacre City and Levittown are all case studies examined to determine the value of utopian urban planning, in light of the plan of Telosa. By understanding the value of utopianism, and the inherent challenges faced, visionaries like Lore and BIG have a higher probability of bringing Telosa to fruition.
ContributorsMerhi, Christopher (Author) / Kelley, Jason (Thesis director) / King, David (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / College of Integrative Sciences and Arts (Contributor)
Created2022-05
Description
Transit agencies are struggling to regain ridership lost during the pandemic. Research shows that riding transit was among the most feared activities during the pandemic due to people’s high perceived risk of infection. Transit agencies have responded by implementing a variety of pandemic-related safety measures in stations and vehicles, but there is little literature assessing how these safety measures affect passengers’ perception of safety. This study implements surveys, interviews, and observations in Berlin, Germany to assess how passengers’ demographic characteristics and experiences with safety measures are related to their perception of safety using transit. Females and older age groups were more likely to perceive transit as riskier than males and younger age groups. The results provide little evidence to suggest that safety measures have a significant impact on passengers’ perception of safety, however. If this result is supported by future research, it suggests that transit agency investments in pandemic safety measures may not help them to regain ridership.
ContributorsKatt, Noah (Author) / Salon, Deborah (Thesis advisor) / Meerow, Sara (Committee member) / King, David (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
Description
The Phoenix area is often considered the mecca of suburban residential sprawl and for as long as the city has been growing, retail development has followed. Despite occurring alongside residential sprawl, retail development does not have the same characteristics as residential suburban sprawl and has more closely followed national retail trends. Regardless, there are still some differences, therefore the research question that will be asked here is how have the characteristics of retail development in Greater Phoenix followed the national trends of retail developments that were established in each decade since the 1950s? Characteristics were gathered from a literature review and 29 sample retail developments from various types of retail formats popularized in the various decades including commercial strips, regional shopping centers, big box centers, factory outlet malls, power centers, power parks, and lifestyle centers were surveyed. Overall, it was found that many retail developments in Phoenix are larger than the national standard. Additionally, retail formats like power parks, power towns, and big box centers included more small and medium sized inline or strip storefronts than the national standard. But, in general, many characteristics other than those already mentioned did not vary much from the national norms. In the end, retail development will continue to be important as the Phoenix area continues to grow into one of the biggest metros in the country.
ContributorsGallegos, Jairus Donald (Author) / King, David (Thesis advisor) / Davis, Jonathan (Committee member) / Ó Huallacháin, Breandán (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022