Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2020, City and Regional Planning

This dissertation presents a comprehensive analytical framework for examining urban green infrastructure and its urban planning implications. Comprised of four essays, this research investigates the concepts, measurement, modeling and implications of urban green spaces and vegetation (UGSV). Leveraging the increasing variety and precision of geospatial big data and techniques, this research characterizes the heterogeneity of UGSV in terms of physical form and functions to inform the effective environmental design of UGSV. The first and second essays present methods for the assessment of spatial patterns of UGSV and their socioeconomic accessibility using various green measures. Remote sensing, GIS and pattern recognition techniques are used to measure UGSV over large geographic areas with fine thematic resolution. The third and fourth essays deal with planning applications, focusing on the relationship between UGSV, sustainable mobility and microclimate moderation. The results imply that urban and suburban neighborhoods experience significant disparities in terms of socioenvironmental benefits provided by UGSV, and the assessment of how and where the inequity occurs varies with green measures and applications. UGSV relates closely to the long-term sustainability of active travel and thermal environment, while the benefits are likely to be spatially and socially limited to certain groups, requiring targeted planning interventions. This dissertation highlights the importance of a multidisciplinary understanding of `greenness' in urban areas, suggesting that divergent understandings in different fields should be integrated to formulate a coherent strategy for green infrastructure planning.

Committee: Jean-Michel Guldmann (Advisor); Gulsah Akar (Advisor); Desheng Liu (Committee Member) Subjects: Urban Planning

MCP, University of Cincinnati, 2013, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning: Community Planning

This paper evaluates the newly installed Closed-circuit television (CCTV) at selected sites in Cincinnati, OH, for one year before and after camera installation dates to understand its effectiveness in crime deterrence. In order to determine the expected crime control area a viewshed study was conducted with 2D and 3D GIS mapping. To measure relative impact, the Corryville study area was compared to two other local CCTV areas in Cincinnati. There was minimal total crime reduction after CCTV installation in two selected comparison sites relative to the Corryville study area. To evaluate the different results, this paper analyzes evaluates not only the camera’s location but also social and physical characteristics of the sites to understand other possible factors affecting crime rates. The paper concludes that CCTV is not very effective in deterring certain types of crime. Moreover, the effectiveness is different depending on the physical and social characteristic of a given neighborhood. However, it is still effective in reducing some types of crime, even more so if the study area is a residential area with less mobility and limited accessibility from other high density neighborhoods. It is almost impossible to conclude that crime is reduced by CCTV because this study only considers a one year period and there are many other factors and limitations. Thus, future observation in crime rates for these areas is necessary to determine if there is a lagging effect of CCTV installation.

Committee: Francis Russell M.Arch B.A. (Committee Chair); Changjoo Kim Ph.D. (Committee Member); Xinhao Wang Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Sociology

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2011, Geodetic Science and Surveying

Creating accurate, current digital maps and 3-D scenes is a high priority in today's fast changing environment. The nation's maps are in a constant state of revision, with many alterations or new additions each day. Digital maps have become quite common. Google maps, Mapquest and others are examples. These also have 3-D viewing capability. Many details are now included, such as the height of low bridges, in the attribute data for the objects displayed on digital maps and scenes. To expedite the updating of these datasets, they should be created autonomously, without human intervention, from data streams. Though systems exist that attain fast, or even real-time performance mapping and reconstruction, they are typically restricted to creating sketches from the data stream, and not accurate maps or scenes. The ever increasing amount of image data available from private companies, governments and the internet, suggest the development of an automated system is of utmost importance. The proposed framework can create 3-D views autonomously; which extends the functionality of digital mapping. The first step to creating 3-D views is to reconstruct the scene of the area to be mapped. To reconstruct a scene from heterogeneous sources, the data has to be registered: either to each other or, preferably, to a general, absolute coordinate system. Registering an image is based on the reconstruction of the geometric relationship of the image to the coordinate system at the time of imaging. Registration is the process of determining the geometric transformation parameters of a dataset in one coordinate system, the source, with respect to the other coordinate system, the target. The advantages of fusing these datasets by registration manifests itself by the data contained in the complementary information that different modality datasets have. The complementary characteristics of these systems can be fully utilized only after successful registration of the photogrammetric and alternati (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Alper Yilmaz PhD (Advisor); Carolyn Merry PhD (Committee Member); Alan Saalfeld PhD (Committee Member); Ron Li PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Civil Engineering; Computer Engineering; Geographic Information Science

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2009, Geography

This study pursues questions about the top-down and the bottom-up directions of geographical thinking. A question about the top-down direction: 1) how geographical concepts could influence spatial data, is asked in the first half of the study, and another question for the bottom-up direction: 2) how existing data could inform geographical concepts, is asked in another half of the study. To answer the first question, Part 1 deals with the uncertainty of an exurban concept as a primary example, since there are many different definitions of exurbanization and the spatial boundaries based on them are not identical. Several definitions of exurbanization are investigated to determine how they represent exurban areas, and formal representations of the fuzzy-set approach are developed to analyze and visualize the uncertainty of the exurban definitions. The study develops a software interface that would allow interactive exploration, analysis, negotiation, and visualization of uncertain geographical concepts. Selected exurban definitions and empirical spatial data demonstrate concept comparison and concept creation activities using the interface. A case study of five different definitions of exurbanization in Ohio, U.S. shows different degrees of agreement on the exurban boundary, and also illustrates an impact of different approaches to negotiate the multiple definitions. In addition, Part 1 provides results from user evaluations of the developed software interface to better support the exchange of knowledge and communication between exurban stakeholders in Ohio. Findings from the evaluation indicate that the software interface could be useful for urban ontology research and land use, with support of the different ontologies of various actors for a common concept. To answer the second question, Part 2 attempts to derive some time-geography concepts from a set of spatio-temporal choreographic information developed by a multi-disciplinary project, “The Synchronous Objects pro (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Ola Ahlqvist (Advisor); Noel Cressie (Committee Member); Darla Munroe (Committee Member); Alan Price (Committee Member) Subjects: Dance; Design; Geography; Statistics