Land Use and Built Environment

Involvement of Park and Recreation Professionals in Pedestrian Plans

Evenson, KR
Aytur, SA
Rodriguez, DA
Salveson, D
2009

Professionals from many different disciplines are finding innovative ways to work together to increase physical activity to help create healthier communities. One process that can provide a focal point for promoting physical activity by park and recreation professionals, land use and transportation planners, public health practitioners, and other stakeholders is the development and implementation of pedestrian plans. A pedestrian plan is a public document that lays out a community’s vision for future pedestrian activity, identifies the actions required to realize that vision, ties...

The Built Environment and Health: Impacts of Pedestrian-Friendly Designs on Air Pollution Exposure

Nazelle, A De
Rodriguez, DA
Crawford-Brown, D
2009

In the wake of the growing popularity of pedestrian-oriented community designs, it is timely to assess potential risk trade-offs of such urban planning strategies. Pedestrian-friendly designs are currently being called for and implemented in the US to tackle in particular problems associated with insufficient physical activity in the population. Unintended consequences may emerge, however, especially due to potential increases in the inhalation of pollutants as the population walking or cycling in polluted environments increases. A risk assessment of such built environment...

Tradeoffs in Incremental Changes Towards Pedestrian-Friendly Environments: Physical Activity and Pollution Exposure

Nazelle, A De
Rodriguez, DA
2009

A microsimulation of individuals’ activities is used in the context of a risk analysis framework to assess the impacts of hypothesized changes to the built environment on personal energy expenditure and on inhalation of air pollutants. Uncertainty is assessed using Monte Carlo simulations and sensitivity analyzes. We find both simulated individuals that augment and others that reduce their energy expenditure and inhalation dose of pollutants, with median increases displaying larger magnitudes than the decreases. Up to 75% of the population has significant increases in energy...

The Role of the Built Environment in Explaining Relationships Between Perceived and Actual Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety

Cho, G
Rodriguez, DA
Khattak, AJ
2009

While the conventional approach to safety planning has emphasized crash analysis with police-reported crash information, transportation professionals increasingly recognize the importance of proactively identifying potential crash risk and considering environmental characteristics. In a proactive approach, individuals’ perception of crash risk provides important information in identifying potential crash risk. As built environment characteristics influence the levels of pedestrian and bicycle safety, this study examined how perceived and actual crash risk are related with each other...

The Relationship Between Segment-level Built Environment Attributes and Pedestrian Activity Around Bogota’s BRT Stations

Rodriguez, DA
Brisson, EM
Estupiñan, N
2009

Few studies have examined the relationship between micro-scale features of the built environment and street segment usage. Micro-scale features of the built environment include the width of the sidewalk, the presence of amenities such as benches and trash bins, and the presence of crossing aids such as stoplights and crosswalks. This study employs segment-level primary data collected for 338 street segments in close proximity to one of 71 bus rapid transit stations in Bogotá, Colombia. We also use secondary data to control for area-level characteristics such as density, socio-...

Land Use, Residential Density, and Walking: The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis

Rodriguez, DA
Evenson, KR
Roux, AV Diez
Brines, SJ
2009
The neighborhood environment may play a role in encouraging sedentary patterns, especially for middle-aged and older adults. The aim of this study was to examine the associations between walking and neighborhood population density, retail availability, and land-use distribution using data from a cohort of adults aged 45 to 84 years. Data from a multi-ethnic sample of 5529 adult residents of Baltimore MD, Chicago IL, Forsyth County NC, Los Angeles CA, New York NY, and St. Paul MN enrolled in the Multi-Ethnic Study of...

Are Perceptions about Worksite Neighborhoods and Policies Associated with Walking?

Schwartz, MA
Aytur, SA
Evenson, KR
Rodriguez, DA
2009
To examine associations of the built environment surrounding worksites and of work policies with walking behaviors. Cross-sectional convenience sample survey. Workplace. Employed adults residing in Montgomery County, Maryland. Four different step measures taken at or near work as recorded using an accelerometer and a fifth measure indicated self-reported walking from work. Participants reported on eight built environment characteristics surrounding the worksite...

Addressing Pedestrian Safety: A Content Analysis of Pedestrian Master Plans in North Carolina

Jones, DK
Evenson, KR
Rodriguez, DA
Aytur, SA
2010

To systematically examine the content of pedestrian master plans in North Carolina in order to assess whether and how these plans were designed to improve pedestrian safety. Methods: All current pedestrian master plans in North Carolina through 2008 were gathered and examined using content analysis. A safety quality index was developed to assess the thoroughness with which a plan addressed safety issues in four categories: (1) goal statement, (2) analysis of current conditions, (3) policy proposals, and (4) program proposals. Plans were also compared according to the implementation...

Uri Avin and Daniel A. Rodriguez Discuss" The Role of Employment Subcenters in Residential Location Decisions"

Avin, U
Rodriguez, DA
2010

Uri Avin writes: The paper by Eun Joo Cho, Daniel A. Rodriguez, and Yan Song in the Fall 2008 issue of the Journal of Transport and Land Use (ąe role of employment subcenters in residential location decisions, JTLU vol. 1 no. 2) was of great interest to me both because of its intrinsic subject matter and because I spent four years working in Charlotte/Mecklenburg County on a variety of projects, starting with the 1998 integrated transit/land use plan that preceded the bond referendum. I was moved to respond to the paper from the perspective of someone familiar with the place and its...

Disaggregate Land Uses and Walking

McConville, ME
Rodriguez, DA
Clifton, K
Cho, G
Fleischhacker, S
2011
Although researchers have explored associations between mixed-use development and physical activity, few have examined the influence of specific land uses. This study analyzes how the accessibility, intensity, and diversity of nonresidential land uses are related to walking for transportation. Multinomial logistic regression was used to investigate associations between walking for...