Walkability and social resilience

Aims and method:

Examines whether walkability influences neighbourhood social sustainability. Researchers examined 170 neighbourhoods (census tracts) in Louisville, Kentucky (USA) to understand whether walkability impacted on housing values, neighbourhood abandonment and crime.

Key findings:

· Walkability has a statistically significant impact on all dependent variables associated with neighbourhood sustainability as measured by foreclosures, housing values and crime.

· Walkability has a significant net impact on neighbourhood social resilience

· Better walkability significantly decreases crime and foreclosures.

· Walkability directly increases housing value

Reference:

Gilderbloom, J. I., Riggs, W. W., & Meares, W. L. (2015). Does walkability matter? An examination of walkability’s impact on housing values, foreclosures and crime. Cities, 42, 13-24.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264275114001474

Traffic and street liveability

Aims and method:

Explores the relationship between traffic levels in three San Francisco streets and their consequential liveability, most notably the social interaction between residents living on the streets. The study used a combination of interviews with residents, systematic observations of use and objective measurements of traffic and pedestrian flows.

Key findings:

· All aspects of perceived liveability – absence of noise, stress, and pollution; levels of social interaction, territorial extent, and environmental awareness; and safety – were found to correlate inversely with traffic intensity.

· Traffic increases were also accompanied by the departure of families with children from these streets.

· Heavy traffic is associated with much less social interaction and street activity. Conversely, a street with little traffic, and many families, promotes a rich social climate and a strong sense of community

· Heavy traffic is associated with a withdrawal from the physical environment. Conversely, residents of the street with low traffic show an acute, critical, and appreciative awareness of and care for the physical environment

· The intensive traffic conditions on the heavily trafficked street led to both stress and withdrawal. People who lived there at the time of the survey had either withdrawn from the street or had never become engaged in it. They only used it when they had to, they had few local friends and acquaintances, and they had become oblivious to the street as a living environment. If they could, they lived at the backs of their houses.

· Those who lived in the lightly trafficked street had many friends and acquaintances (over twice as many on the average as those on the heavily trafficked street), and they were generally much more aware of their street.

Reference:

Appleyard D & Lintell M (1972) The Environmental Quality of City Streets: The Residents' Viewpoint. Journal of the American Institute of Planners, 38(2). 84-101.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/01944367208977410?needAccess=true

Traffic and neighbourhood contacts

Aims and method:

Explores how street design and traffic affect social relations in urban neighbourhoods. Three street types in the city of Basel, Switzerland were studied: a 50 km/h street, a 30 km/h street and three encounter zones (20 km/h and pedestrian priority). The effects were measured in terms of neighbourhood interactions, use of public space, and the personal feeling of belonging of residents.

Key findings:

· The potential for social integration increases when the speed limit decreases

· Streets with slow moving traffic, limited space for parking and good environmental qualities offer a large potential for personal development, contentment and social integration.

· Neighbourhood contacts in such streets are more frequent and more intensive and the separation effects are substantially smaller.

· Liveable streets in urban neighbourhoods can be great places for public life and social inclusion.

· Families have neighbourhood interactions significantly more often and linger longer in public spaces than other groups of people

Reference:

Sauter, D., & Huettenmoser, M. (2008). Liveable streets and social inclusion. Urban Design International, 13(2), 67-79.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/udi.2008.15

The impact of urban greenways

Aims and method:

Studies residents’ perceptions of living in close proximity to greenways. Surveys residents of two neighbourhoods in close proximity to the Atlanta BeltLine Trail (Georgia, USA) about common neighbourhood concerns and how the trail’s development either helps to alleviate these concerns or possibly exacerbates them. This study uses Importance Performance Analysis by soliciting data on resident perceptions of common neighbourhood concerns.

Key findings:

· From the 381 responses received, the top five most important neighbourhood concerns were crime, property taxes, vandalism, property values, and places for outdoor recreation.

· The BeltLine was perceived by residents to be improving property values, places for outdoor recreation, and social spaces for gathering, while slightly increasing litter, crime, vandalism, and property taxes

Reference:

Weber, S., Boley, B. B., Palardy, N., & Gaither, C. J. (2017). The impact of urban greenways on residential concerns: Findings from the Atlanta BeltLine Trail. Landscape and Urban Planning, 167, 147-156.

http://www.sciencedirect.com.libproxy.ucl.ac.uk/science/article/pii/S0169204617301457

Quality of life from sustainable development

Aims and method:

Models and examines the impact of improved quality of life on India’s climate change goals. The study compares ‘business as usual’ versus a sustainable development model using a TIMES (The Integrated MARKAL EFOM System) cost optimisation simulation, and utilising scenarios from 2012 to 2030. The sustainability indicators considered included savings in water, reduction of air pollution and recycling materials for efficient use of material resources, including through improved building design and development codes.

Key Findings:

· The simulation shows quality of life improvements are possible via sustainable development and design plays a key role in this

· An integrated approach, including improvement in the rules managing development, is central to achieving the combination of sustainable development and adherence to climate change targets.

Reference:

Byravan, S., Ali, M. S., Ananthakumar, M. R., Goyal, N., Kanudia, A., Ramamurthi, P. V., Srinivasan, S. & Paladugula, A. L. (2017). Quality of life for all: A sustainable development framework for India's climate policy reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Energy for Sustainable Development, 39, 48-58.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0973082616310572

The effect of public art on the visual properties of landscapes

Aims and method:

Investigated the effects of public art presence, and subject matter, on visual perceptions and reactions to urban and natural landscapes. The method comprised of questions posed to a cross-section of potential users of such settings, concerning measurable visual attributes synonymous with landscapes. The Participants comprised exclusively of Nihon University (Tokyo) students who completed the surveys within controlled environments.

Key findings:

• Public art reduced the pleasantness of a natural scene, but did not have an impact on the urban scene
• The presence of public art generally yielded greater arousal; however, scores in relation to pleasantness varied with the public art works
• The affective quality of art had more influence on landscapes than the compatibility between public art and the landscapes.

Reference:

Motoyama, Y. & Hanyu, K. (2014). Does public art enrich landscapes? The effect of public art on visual properties and affective appraisals of landscapes. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 786–795.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0272494414000413