Matching Items (11)
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- All Subjects: urban planning
- Creators: Kuby, Michael
Description
It has been identified in the literature that there exists a "spatial mismatch" between geographical concentrations of lower-income or minority people who have relatively lower rates of car ownership, lower skills or educational attainment and who mainly rely on public transit for their travel, and low-skilled jobs for which they more easily qualify. Given this situation, various types of transportation projects have been constructed to improve public transit services and, alongside other goals, improve the connection between low-skilled workers and jobs. As indicators of performance, measures of job accessibility are commonly used in to gauge how such improvements have facilitated job access. Following this approach, this study investigates the impact of the Phoenix Metro Light Rail on job accessibility for the transit users, by calculating job accessibility before and after the opening of the system. Moreover, it also investigates the demographic profile of those who have benefited from improvements in job accessibility----both by income and by ethnicity. Job accessibility is measured using the cumulative opportunity approach which quantifies the job accessibility within different travel time limits, such as 30 and 45 minutes. ArcGIS is used for data processing and results visualization. Results show that the Phoenix light rail has improved job accessibility of the traffic analysis zones that are along the light rail line and Hispanic and lower-income groups have benefited more than their counterparts.
ContributorsLiu, Liyuan (Author) / Golub, Aaron (Thesis advisor) / Wentz, Elizabeth (Committee member) / Kuby, Michael (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
The development of microsimulation approaches to urban systems modeling has occurred largely in three parallel streams of research, namely, land use, travel demand and traffic assignment. However, there are important dependencies and inter-relationships between the model systems which need to be accounted to accurately and comprehensively model the urban system. Location choices affect household activity-travel behavior, household activity-travel behavior affects network level of service (performance), and network level of service, in turn, affects land use and activity-travel behavior. The development of conceptual designs and operational frameworks that represent such complex inter-relationships in a consistent fashion across behavioral units, geographical entities, and temporal scales has proven to be a formidable challenge. In this research, an integrated microsimulation modeling framework called SimTRAVEL (Simulator of Transport, Routes, Activities, Vehicles, Emissions, and Land) that integrates the component model systems in a behaviorally consistent fashion, is presented. The model system is designed such that the activity-travel behavior model and the dynamic traffic assignment model are able to communicate with one another along continuous time with a view to simulate emergent activity-travel patterns in response to dynamically changing network conditions. The dissertation describes the operational framework, presents the modeling methodologies, and offers an extensive discussion on the advantages that such a framework may provide for analyzing the impacts of severe network disruptions on activity-travel choices. A prototype of the model system is developed and implemented for a portion of the Greater Phoenix metropolitan area in Arizona to demonstrate the capabilities of the model system.
ContributorsKonduri, Karthik Charan (Author) / Pendyala, Ram M. (Thesis advisor) / Ahn, Soyoung (Committee member) / Kuby, Michael (Committee member) / Kaloush, Kamil (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
Bicycle sharing systems (BSS) operate on five continents, and they change quickly with technological innovations. The newest “dockless” systems eliminate both docks and stations, and have become popular in China since their launch in 2016. The rapid increase in dockless system use has exposed its drawbacks. Without the order imposed by docks and stations, bike parking has become problematic. In the areas of densest use, the central business districts of large cities, dockless systems have resulted in chaotic piling of bikes and need for frequent rebalancing of bikes to other locations. In low-density zones, on the other hand, it may be difficult for customers to find a bike, and bikes may go unused for long periods. Using big data from the Mobike BSS in Beijing, I analyzed the relationship between building density and the efficiency of dockless BSS. Density is negatively correlated with bicycle idle time, and positively correlated with rebalancing. Understanding the effects of density on BSS efficiency can help BSS operators and municipalities improve the operating efficiency of BSS, increase regional cycling volume, and solve the bicycle rebalancing problem in dockless systems. It can also be useful to cities considering what kind of BSS to adopt.
ContributorsCui, Wencong (Author) / Kuby, Michael (Thesis advisor) / Salon, Deborah (Committee member) / Thigpen, Calvin (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
In the United States, the past thirty years have brought with them a substantial rise in income and wealth inequality rates. Inequality in the U.S. has risen to levels not seen for nearly a century and shows no signs of decreasing in the near future. Conversely, Canada has experienced lower levels of inequality during this same period despite many similarities and ties to the U.S. Therefore, the purpose of this paper will be to examine the extent to which these two countries differ in this area and identify some of the more salient factors that have contributed to this divergence, including tax policies, unionization rates, and financial industry regulation, as well as the deeper, more fundamental elements of each nation's identity.
ContributorsPetrusek, Nicholas Anthony (Author) / Puleo, Thomas (Thesis director) / Sivak, Henry (Committee member) / Thomas, George (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
"Phoenix as Refuge: A Photographic Exploration of Refugees Within the City" was a creative thesis project that aimed to bridge the gap between divided communities by creating awareness of refugees within the city of Phoenix. Through an IRB approved research study, multiple refugee families were interviewed and photographed. The project documented refugees and their stories and then made those interviews accessible to the greater Phoenix community. The purpose was to make the Phoenix community more aware of refugees in the hopes that this awareness would increase community activism and advocacy for this resilient yet vulnerable minority group. This paper explains the refugee resettlement process and addresses the social and economic implications of refugee resettlement and advocacy within an urban area. Many inhabitants of Phoenix are unaware the refugees that live in their city because of the geographic divide between social classes and ethnic groups. In highly urbanized communities, the geographic layout of the city leads to a more individualistic and segregated society. This notion leads to a discussion of Robert Putnam's theory of social capital, which argued that by improving and fostering social connections, one could increase social well-being and even make the economy more efficient. This paper then applies Putnam's ideas to the interaction between refugees and non-refugees, using space as a determining factor in measuring the social capital of the Phoenix community. As evident in the study of Phoenix's geographic divide between social and economic classes, Phoenix, like many urban cities, is not designed in a way that fosters social capital. Therefore, advocacy must go beyond people and into advocacy for a different kind of city and place that sets up refugees, and non-refugees alike, to succeed. In this way, rethinking the city through urban planning becomes integral to making new social networks possible, building social capital, and increasing social welfare in urban spaces.
ContributorsRutledge, Chloe Grace (Author) / Sivak, Henry (Thesis director) / Larson, Elizabeth (Committee member) / School of Art (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Economics Program in CLAS (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-12
Description
Located in the Putuo District of Shanghai, Caoyang New Village is an anomaly of sorts from the perspective of contemporary Chinese urban planning. With a history dating back to the early Mao era, the village has long been a symbol of socialist urban imagery that seems ahead of its time because in many ways it displays contemporary "new urbanism" elements. This paper discusses the origins and history of Caoyang Workers' Village, moving forward to its present conditions and recent role as an urban site for participatory planning. It also considers future redevelopment plans for Caoyang New Village, touching upon current conflict over the preservation of its cultural heritage and the need to address its housing issues. In analyzing the past and present of Caoyang New Village, questions of its future as a unique entity within modernity-seeking Shanghai arise.
ContributorsCristelli, Gabrielle Elizabeth (Author) / Webster, Douglas (Thesis director) / Sivak, Henry (Committee member) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
Transportation network connectivity has been linked to positive urban outcomes, including increased rates of active transportation, reduced reliance on automobiles and other social and economic benefits. While many stakeholders in greenfield development processes have emphasized the positive benefits of connectivity and connectivity has increased in many U.S. metros in the past two decades, many street networks remain fragmented and local connectivity remains far below that of historic patterns. This paper explores barriers to and influences on connectivity outcomes in new community construction in the Phoenix metropolitan area, employing mixed qualitative and quantitative methods. Interviews were conducted with members from various stakeholder groups in the subdivision development process. Case studies were developed with space syntax and network analysis measurements to illustrate the influence of variables and stakeholders on the planning process. Participants illustrated a complex political and economic reality surrounding the concept of connectivity, with site conditions and development market dynamics playing the clearest roles in shaping connectivity. The result is subdivisions are achieving moderate levels of connectivity and improving from historic patterns of dendricity but remain entrenched in planning paradigms built around self-contained sites and the policy and market limitations for robust connectivity beyond individual developments.
ContributorsSchumerth, Noah John (Author) / King, David A (Thesis advisor) / Kuby, Michael (Committee member) / Lindsay, Lucas (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
Description
Walking and bicycling bring many merits to people, both physically and mentally.
However, not everyone has an opportunity to enjoy healthy and safe bicycling and
walking. Many studies suggested that access to healthy walking and bicycling is heavily
related to socio-economic status. Low income population and racial minorities have
poorer transportation that results in less walking and bicycling, as well as less access to
public transportation. They are also under higher risks of being hit by vehicles while
walking and bicycling. This research quantifies the relationship between socioeconomic
factors and bicyclist and pedestrian involved traffic crash rates in order to establish an
understanding of how equitable access to safe bicycling and walking is in Phoenix. The
crash rates involving both bicyclists and pedestrians were categorized into two groups,
minor crashes and severe crashes. Then, the OLS model was used to analyze minor and
severe bicycle crash rates, and minor and severe pedestrian crash rates, respectively.
There are four main results, (1) The median income of an area is always negatively
related to the crash rates of bicyclists and pedestrians. The reason behind the negative
correlation is that there is a very small proportion of people choosing to walk or ride
bicycles as their commuting methods in the high-income areas. Consequently, there are
low crash rates of pedestrians and bicyclists. (2) The minor bicycle crash rates are more
related to socio-economic determinants than the severe crash rates. (3) A higher
population density reduces both the minor and the severe crash rates of bicyclists and
pedestrians in Phoenix. (4) A higher pedestrian commuting ratio does not reduce bicyclist
and pedestrian crash rates in Phoenix. The findings from this study can provide a
reference value for the government and other researchers and encourage better future
decisions from policy makers.
However, not everyone has an opportunity to enjoy healthy and safe bicycling and
walking. Many studies suggested that access to healthy walking and bicycling is heavily
related to socio-economic status. Low income population and racial minorities have
poorer transportation that results in less walking and bicycling, as well as less access to
public transportation. They are also under higher risks of being hit by vehicles while
walking and bicycling. This research quantifies the relationship between socioeconomic
factors and bicyclist and pedestrian involved traffic crash rates in order to establish an
understanding of how equitable access to safe bicycling and walking is in Phoenix. The
crash rates involving both bicyclists and pedestrians were categorized into two groups,
minor crashes and severe crashes. Then, the OLS model was used to analyze minor and
severe bicycle crash rates, and minor and severe pedestrian crash rates, respectively.
There are four main results, (1) The median income of an area is always negatively
related to the crash rates of bicyclists and pedestrians. The reason behind the negative
correlation is that there is a very small proportion of people choosing to walk or ride
bicycles as their commuting methods in the high-income areas. Consequently, there are
low crash rates of pedestrians and bicyclists. (2) The minor bicycle crash rates are more
related to socio-economic determinants than the severe crash rates. (3) A higher
population density reduces both the minor and the severe crash rates of bicyclists and
pedestrians in Phoenix. (4) A higher pedestrian commuting ratio does not reduce bicyclist
and pedestrian crash rates in Phoenix. The findings from this study can provide a
reference value for the government and other researchers and encourage better future
decisions from policy makers.
ContributorsWu, Feiyi (Author) / Nelson, Trisalyn (Thesis advisor) / Salon, Deborah (Committee member) / Kuby, Michael (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020
Description
With the acceleration of urbanization in many parts of the world, transportation challenges such as traffic congestion, increasing carbon emissions, and the “first/last-mile” connectivity problems for commuter travel have arisen. Transport experts and policymakers have proposed shared transportation, such as dockless e-scooters and bike-sharing programs, to solve some of these urban transportation issues. In cities with high population densities, multimodal mobility hubs designed to integrate shared and public transportation can be implemented to achieve faster public connections and thus increase access to public transport on both access and egress sides. However, haphazard drop-offs of these dockless vehicles have led to complaints from community members and motivated the need for neighborhood-level parking areas (NLPAs). Simultaneously, concerns about the equitable distribution of transportation infrastructure have been growing and have led to the Biden Administration announcing the Justice40 Initiative which requires 40% of certain federal investments to benefit disadvantaged communities. To plan a system of NLPAs to address not only the transportation shortcomings while elevating these recent equity goals, this thesis develops a multi-objective optimal facility location model that maximizes coverage of both residential areas and transit stations while including a novel constraint to satisfy the requirements of Justice40. The model is applied to the City of Tempe, Arizona, and uses GIS data and spatial analyses of the existing public transportation stops, estimates of transit station boardings, population by census block, and locations of disadvantaged communities to optimize NLPA location. The model generates Pareto optimal tradeoff curves for different numbers of NLPAs to find the non-dominated solutions for the coverage of population nodes and boardings. The analysis solves the multi-objective model with and without the equity constraint, showing the effect of considering equity in developing a multimodal hub system, especially for disadvantaged communities. The proposed model can provide a decision support tool for transport and public authorities to plan future investments and facilitate multimodal transport.
ContributorsQuan, Hejun (Author) / Kuby, Michael (Thesis advisor) / Frazier, Amy (Thesis advisor) / Tong, Daoqin (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
Description
Transportation infrastructure facilitates humans in moving themselves and material goods, and thereby supports the functioning of human society. Transportation planners, engineers, and decision makers in the 20th century largely excluded local stakeholders from planning processes; the resultant built environment has perpetuated inequity and social division. Transportation system planning has often been conducted in specialized departments with little interdisciplinary collaboration. Integration of diverse perspectives and ontologies throughout transportation planning processes can produce robust, resilient, equitable, and sustainable transportation systems. Geodesign is a framework for planning the built environment that necessarily involves voices from multiple perspectives including local stakeholders, design professionals, geographic scientists, and information technology coordinators. Geodesign uses geographic information systems to create designs that reflect stakeholder needs, values, and priorities while addressing the study area’s geographic context. Geodesign has been used primarily for land use planning and has only addressed transportation planning concerns in relation to land use.This dissertation consists of an introduction, three projects that apply the geodesign framework to transportation planning and a concluding chapter. The introduction details the rationale for this research. The first project is a systematic review of geodesign projects that address transportation systems. The review seeks to identify epistemological alignment between the geodesign framework and participatory transportation planning. The results demonstrate that geodesign comports with transportation planners’ existing practices and uses of planning support systems. The combination of geodesign and transportation planning methods for stakeholder engagement could produce a synergistic framework for transportation infrastructure planning. The second project applies geodesign to locating refueling stations for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles around Hartford, Connecticut. Network designs generated by workshop participants were compared to networks generated by optimization models. The third project applies geodesign to locating sites for micromobility hubs in Tempe, Arizona, via short-form workshop series format. Participants considered the format conducive to collaborative public participatory design. These three projects demonstrate the suitability of the geodesign framework for node-based transportation facility planning via communicative rationality. The conclusion summarizes these three projects and highlights the reproducibility of the geodesign method for node-based transportation facility location planning in other study areas.
ContributorsLopez Jaramillo, Oscar (Author) / Kuby, Michael (Thesis advisor) / Wentz, Elizabeth (Committee member) / Ruddell, Darren (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023