Environment

Built Environment versus Personal Traits: an Application of Integrated Choice and Latent Variable Model (ICLV) in Understanding Modal Choice in Rome, Italy

Samira Ramezani
Barbara Pizzo
Elizabeth Deakin
2015

In spite of numerous applications of Integrated Choice and Latent Variable (ICLV) modelling in the field of transportation engineering, there is no published work applying it in studies of the effect of built environment on modal choice. This study uses an ICLV model to investigate the relative importance of built environment versus personal traits. It designs a quasiexperiment to elicit a better understanding of the causal effects of several urban form characteristics on modal choice. Findings suggest that built form can compete with the magnitude of the influence of personal traits, if...

Perception-Based Walkability Index to Test Impact of Microlevel Walkability on Sustainable Mode Choice Decisions

Sungjin Park
Elizabeth Deakin
Jae Seung Lee
2014

This pilot study had two major research goals. The first goal was to develop a perception-based composite walkability index, with which researchers could evaluate the microlevel quality of the walking environment in an objective and systematic way. The second goal was to test the impact of microlevel walkability on mode choices, including walking as a travel option. For the development of a perception-based composite walkability index, a case study was conducted in the station area near the downtown of Mountain View, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. Three surveys were conducted:...

Transforming High-Speed Rail Stations to Major Activity Hubs: Lessons for California

2009

This paper presents findings from domestic and international case studies of developments around high-speed rail stations and derives from these findings some lessons for station area development for California’s high-speed rail system. The paper reviews the case for high-speed rail as a complement to air and highway systems in addressing congestion and providing needed additional services as the population of the State continues to grow. Review of domestic and international experiences reveals that well-planned station-area developments can result in desirable impacts on the communities...

Influence of the Social Environment on Children's School Travel

Noreen McDonald
Elizabeth Deakin
Annette Aalborg
2010

To analyze the association between parental perceptions of the social environment and walking and biking to school among 10–14-year-olds. Surveys were conducted with 432 parents of 10–14-year-olds in the San Francisco Bay Area during 2006 and 2007; the final sample size was 357. The social environment was measured with a 3-item scale assessing child-centered social control. Unadjusted and adjusted differences in rates of active travel to school were compared between families reporting high levels of social control in their neighborhood and those reporting low or neutral levels of social...

Including climate change considerations in Latin American urban transport practices and policy agendas

Carolyn McAndrews
Elizabeth Deakin
Lee Schipper
2013

In this research we sought to understand how actors in urban transportation adopt climate change considerations into their work, including the techniques they use to address it, such as planning, design, analysis and advocacy in project planning and implementation. Through interviews with transportation practitioners at the World Bank, working in Latin America, we found that efforts to include climate change mitigation in the urban transportation policy agenda encountered major challenges such as lack of support for interventions that slow motorisation. In response, these transportation...

Climate Change and Urban Transportation in Latin America: Analysis of Recent Projects

Carolyn McAndrews
Elizabeth Deakin
Lee Schipper
2010

Urban transportation investments present an opportunity to mitigate climate change while supporting effective, clean, safe, and equitable transportation. This study reports on the response of a set of urban transportation investments in Latin America to climate change. A sample of recent transportation projects funded by an international bank was analyzed to learn what kinds of infrastructure, plans, and policies were being pursued and to assess whether projects developed specifically to address climate change differed from other projects. Loans and grants supported a mix of infrastructure...

Inhalation Intake of Ambient Air Pollution in California's South Coast Air Basin

Julian Marshall
Patrick Granvold
Abigail Hoats
Thomas McKone
Elizabeth Deakin
William Nazaroff
2006

Reliable estimates of inhalation intake of air pollution and its distribution among a specified population are important for environmental epidemiology, health risk assessment, urban planning, and environmental policy. We computed distributional characteristics of the inhalation intake of five pollutants for a group of ∼25,000 people (∼29,000 person-days) living in California's South Coast Air Basin. Our approach incorporates four main inputs: temporally resolved information about people's location (latitude and longitude), microenvironment, and activity level; temporally and spatially...

Good Practice in the Exploitation of Innovative Strategies in Sustainable Urban Transport: City Interview Synthesis

Greg Marsden
Karen Frick
Elizabeth Deakin
2009

A literature review of policy transfer in transport and cognate fields was conducted. It shows that there is little evidence on how cities learn from each other and even less on how this process occurs in the transport sector.The review identified a series of key aspects of policy transfer which the literature suggests might be important in understanding the process of, advantages and barriers to transferring innovative transport policies.Interviews were then conducted in 11 cities to further investigate the process of policy transfer and the role of academics within this. Seven cities...

Reviving public transit ridership to downtowns and employment centers: Case Studies of San Francisco, San Jose, Oakland, Berkeley, and Walnut Creek

Elizabeth Deakin
Egon Terplan
Maya Najjar
Kathryn Exon Smith
2024

This paper examines transit ridership and its role in downtowns in five San Francisco Bay Area cities pre- and post-COVID. We analyze transit ridership data from 2019 and 2022-24, review transit agency responses to COVID’s consequences, and examine the plans and proposals for downtowns adopted by the cities and those developed by business improvement districts (BIDs). We draw upon focus groups we held with transit users and interviews we conducted with key stakeholders to gain additional information and insights. We found that trips to, from and within our five case study downtowns account...

Transportation and Land Development

Elizabeth Deakin
Arthur C Nelson
Kristina Currans
David Lee
John Renne
2019

The Transportation and Land Development Committee (ADD30), a standing committee of the Transportation Research Board (TRB), was established in 1972 to improve the understanding of the interrelationships between transportation and patterns of urbanization, along with the economic, social, and environmental consequences of transportation and land development choices. Topics that fall within the committee’s purview include: the effect that transportation infrastructure has on urban form and development; the impact that urban form, development, and design has on travel behavior; the impact...