BUP/MCP, University of Cincinnati, 2008, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning : Community Planning

Obesity has become one of the major issues in the United States. Research done byCenter for Disease Control and other organizations revealed the relationship between obesity and physical inactivity. This is a major concern to the planners today, as the built environment affects the walkability of a neighborhood and influences the pedestrians choice of walking. In this thesis, an effort is made to identify the measures of walkability and incorporate them into a GIS based model that would help in determining the level of walkability in a neighborhood. The model is then tested on a neighborhood in St Louis named Central West End.

Committee: Carla Chifos (Committee Chair); Menelaos Triantafillou (Committee Member); Mary Beth McGrew (Committee Member) Subjects: Urban Planning

Master of City and Regional Planning, The Ohio State University, 2023, City and Regional Planning

Recent reports have linked walkability to social equity through decreased transportation costs increasing affordability in some of the largest metros in the United States. The most walkable metros were also some of the oldest metros, whose development patterns were established before the automobile took over as the main form of transportation; but they are also some of the most expensive cities in the country, which begs the question: how can the most expensive cities be the most socially equitable? The transportation justice framework helps answer that question by upholding accessibility as a core tenet of justice and equity in transportation. This study used a transportation justice lens to look at the relationship between walkability, affordability, and accessibility in Franklin County, Ohio. The city of Columbus is the core of central Ohio metropolitan region and is located primarily in Franklin County. The Environmental Protection Agency's National Walkability Index and the H+T Affordability Index were used to conduct a spatial analysis of walkability and affordability. The walkable and affordable areas of Columbus were found to overlap, but research suggests that the actual walkability of the city may not be accurately reflected by walkability measures. More research is needed on how walkability can be used to improve affordability and equity in cities, but this study suggests that the transportation justice framework may be an effective lens for future research.

Committee: Jason Reece (Committee Member); Bernadette Hanlon (Advisor) Subjects: Transportation; Transportation Planning; Urban Planning

MS, Kent State University, 2022, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Geography

This research investigates walking as a form of transportation in small towns, by working to identify perceived barriers and facilitators of walking. The two main objectives of this project are to recognize and acknowledge perceived barriers to walkability in small towns and to better understand how community perceptions of walking can help to shape more walkable small towns. Quite a bit of research has been published on walkability in urban areas, but very little published research exists on utilitarian walking in rural areas and small towns. Many small towns do have the basic infrastructure to support walking, but the human element in making the decision to walk or drive often sides with the norms of the community and it is important to understand that no two people will have the same experiences walking and those individual choices to walk or not differ greatly based on a wide range of forces and factors. This research uses a mixed-methods exploratory design, with a quantitative online survey informing one-on-one qualitative interviews and sketch mapping to learn about perceptions of walking in Hutchinson, Minnesota. This research found that barriers to walking include personal and public perceptions, safety concerns, and the convenience of driving as opposed to walking.

Committee: Jennifer Mapes (Advisor); David Kaplan (Committee Member); Aimee Ward (Committee Member) Subjects: Geography

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2018, City and Regional Planning

Many studies in many fields has shown health benefits of walkable environments and the importance of perceived aesthetics for walkability. For aesthetics and walkability, research must address two issues: 1) the inconsistency in the measurement of aesthetics has made it difficult to generalize the findings; and 2) the overlapping physical bases between assessed walkability and aesthetics raises a question: Is a walkable street simply an aesthetically appealing street? Thus, this dissertation seeks to provide causal evidence on how environmental attributes and their corresponding measures affect how people evaluate aesthetics and walkability. This dissertation conducted a controlled experiment with simulations. To analyze the data, I used ANOVA and multiple linear regression analysis. I used AutoCAD and SketchUP to simulate 32 street scenes by manipulating two levels of five physical factors: sidewalk width, amount of street furniture, type of sidewalk cafe, facade transparency, and building height. To improve generalizability, I tested the manipulations in two street settings. To measure intention to walk (surrogate for actual walking) and aesthetics, I developed and tested two verbal scales each of which had four items adapted from previous research. I drew three samples: 144 (62 men, 81 women, 1 other) for the intention to walk scale, another 144 (77 men, 64 women, 3 other) for the aesthetic evaluation scale, and another 128 (63 men, 63 women, 2 other) for the intention to walk scale for multiple regression analysis. The results showed similar patterns of effects between the physical factors and the evaluations of the two constructs. Aesthetic evaluation and intention to walk increased, as sidewalk width, amount of street furniture and facade transparency increased. Interaction effects suggested 1) when participants had more to look at from the transparent facade, they tended to care less about the width of sidewalk; 2) when the sidewalk cafe had physical e (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Jack Nasar (Advisor); Rachel Kleit (Committee Member); Chen Zhenhua (Committee Member) Subjects: Urban Planning

MARCH, University of Cincinnati, 2018, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning: Architecture

When designing a project, architects are tasked with protecting the public's health, safety, and welfare. However, how often do designers think about how a building is affecting, or possibly improving, the well-being of its occupants in everyday life? Our interactions with the built environment have a significant impact on health and should, therefore, work towards shaping lives in a positive way. In the United States, many people live sedentarily – performing little to no physical activity - which has a direct effect on their overall wellness. Living sedentarily can be due to any combination of factors, but the main focus of this research is to determine how buildings can be designed to propel physical activity by integrating opportunities for movement into everyday life. Those who are living sedentarily do not get recommended levels of exercise, which can result in both short and long-term health side effects.

Committee: Anton Harfmann M.Arch. (Committee Chair); Edson Roy Cabalfin Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Architecture

MCP, University of Cincinnati, 2016, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning: Community Planning

The main question of this thesis is how to reconnect the islands of activities that have been developed in clusters in Cincinnati, Ohio's inner urban core. Cincinnati's urban core, which this project defines as the Central Business District (CBD), The Banks, Over-the-Rhine (OTR), and the West End district, exemplifies a typical mid-sized American city with a fragmented spatial environment. Over the past few decades, there has been an attempt to revitalize and re-energize the urban core of Cincinnati by adding different activities, such as sport centers and cultural and public places. This revitalization strategy, in many cases, started with different focus points or areas, resulting in clusters of well-defined and well-designed urban spaces, while the rest of the district was largely neglected. This strategy created a fragmented urban core in which those different parts are disconnected. Movement becomes heavily auto-oriented and attractions become spatially isolated destinations. This thesis is organized in six sections. Section one of the thesis begins with a study on the forces during the last century that cause inner-city fragmentation and disconnection in the United States. In this article seven major forces are found, each changed and shaped the urban inner-core in the North American cities. Second section looks at physical characteristics and neighborhood history to understand the forces that shaped them into their current status, and caused disconnection between and within each urban core neighborhood in Cincinnati. Looking at neighborhood history provides information regarding the political and social forces that changed each community, illustrates the needs and problems each neighborhood faces, and provides information about new plans. The physical study, including land uses, distribution of un-built land and green spaces, distribution and condition of store fronts, the location of new and upcoming developments, and city attractions, shapes a pi (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Danilo Palazzo Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Conrad C. Kickert Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Urban Planning

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2016, Geography

Physical inactivity is one of the leading causes of the obesity epidemic. Bicycling and walking for transportation, also called active travel, is one strategy to address inactive lifestyles. There is growing evidence that supportive built environments can encourage active travel. The goal of this dissertation is to conduct an in-depth inquiry into walking and the built environment with three interrelated studies. The first study develops methods for assessing walkability within individual activity spaces: the geographic region accessible to an individual during a given walking trip. It uses three summary measures for walkability within activity spaces: i) the average walkability score across block segments (representing the general level of walkability in the activity space); ii) the standard deviation (representing the walkability variation), and; iii) the network autocorrelation (representing the spatial coherence of the walkability pattern). It assesses the method using data from an empirical study of built environment walkability and walking behavior in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. It visualizes and maps these activity space summary measures to compare walkability among individuals' trips within their neighborhoods. Results indicate that there is little match between walkability attribute summaries at Census geographies and summaries at activity spaces. This suggests Census geographies are not appropriate to summarize built environment walkability. The second study develops a novel combination of a data-driven technique with route choice modeling for leveraging walkability audits. It applies the data-driven technique of random forests to select variables for use in walking route choice models. It compares estimated models of data-driven route choice models with theory-driven models based on predefined walkability dimensions. Results indicate that the random forest technique selects variables that dramatically improve goodness of fit of walking r (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Harvey Miller (Advisor); Ola Ahlqvist (Committee Member); Barbara Brown (Committee Member); Ningchuan Xiao (Committee Member) Subjects: Geographic Information Science; Geography; Transportation; Transportation Planning

MCP, University of Cincinnati, 2015, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning: Community Planning

The village of Lincoln Heights is a shrinking village located in the suburbs of Cincinnati, Ohio. It used to be a home for African Americans who were employed in the nearby industries, but now the village is shrinking due to the deindustrialization. The village is suffering from decay, poverty, and a lack of safety. This research aims to revitalize the area into a walkable community to raise property values, and thus the economic value of the village. The village manager of Lincoln Heights has tried to develop city owned parcels and vacant parcels to retain more tax revenue. I am looking to propose a walkability plan and analyze the effects based on these parcels. In the plan, the development is divided into three phases since the budget is limited. To increase the walkability in the village, I will be proposing mixed-use buildings, public transportation, recreational areas and street designs to. I will also be researching previous landmark studies that have followed a similar process. I will use network analysis and walkability scores to evaluate the plan. The results will show how the physical components mentioned above changes the village. To help implement the plan, I will give some policy recommendations to encourage small businesses, the quality of schools, and the security of the village.

Committee: Xinhao Wang Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Leah Hollstein Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Urban Planning

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2013, Arts and Sciences: Geography

Most studies that examine the equity in spatial access to parks rely on geographic information systems (GIS) and secondary data, and measure access strictly in terms of distance, leaving out other important determinates of access. A need exists for measures of spatial access that include environmental factors such as perceptions of safety, the presence and quality of sidewalks, and heavy traffic, all of which influence levels of physical activity. This dissertation details a qualitative GIS approach that moves beyond distance-based access measures to physical activity resources and engages local adult and youth residents in a participatory research process. The qualitative GIS approach combines GIS-based distance measures with environmental audits, digital photography, Group Level Assessment, and participatory mapping in order to gain local knowledge of the environmental factors that facilitate or inhibit access to the Licking River Greenway and Trails (LRGT), an urban greenway in Northern Kentucky. Including local perceptions of the built environment provides a more realistic portrayal of access, one that includes local insights to the barriers to physical activity and that reveals potential issues related to inequities in access. By identifying equity issues and creating maps that can be utilized by local residents, this research may help ensure that the LRGT is built in a way that improves access for low-income and minority areas.

Committee: Wendy Eisner Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Changjoo Kim Ph.D. (Committee Member); Farrah Jacquez Ph.D. (Committee Member); Kevin Raleigh Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Geography

MCP, University of Cincinnati, 2012, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning: Community Planning

Preventable diseases resulting from unhealthy lifestyles are an unfortunate reality for many Americans. Because walking is one relatively easy way to improve individual health, the factors that influence people to walk are the subject of considerable research efforts. Thus, the purpose of this study is to investigate walkability through an exploratory analysis of built environment constructs that have been connected with active transportation behaviors. Additionally, an effort is made to measure walkability within a cluster of neighborhoods located in Cincinnati, Ohio. Results from this study suggest that a walkability coverage is attainable using quantitative measures and readily available GIS data. The methodology employed, a walkability index composed of four physical environmental factors identified from previous research, highlights variations within the study area and can easily be applied to other cities. Health data and travel behavior surveys can be used to enhance this type of walkability research, further expanding on our understanding of how urban environments influence physical activity behaviors.

Committee: Christopher Auffrey PhD (Committee Chair); Changjoo Kim PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Urban Planning

MCP, University of Cincinnati, 2010, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning : Community Planning

This research is designed to explore how and why decisions about school siting are made. It uses healthy urban planning - which in simplest terms calls for planning for people - to frame the discussion and asks how the siting process can be improved to yield more walkable neighborhood schools. School siting is particularly challenging because of the historical separation of school districts from planning purview, and the separation of public health scrutiny from the siting process altogether. This is despite the clear impacts of school locations on community development and health. Previous research has shown that while many factors influence the school siting process, collaboration is necessary for a better outcome. Using a multiple-methods, multiple-case study approach, I examine the process of school siting in the three largest school districts in Northern Kentucky. The key data for this research comes from interviews with seven informants including school superintendents, planning officials, a school board member, administrator and consultant. The findings suggest that collaboration is indeed the key, but alone is not sufficient. The best outcomes occur when there is interaction of school officials, planners, developers, elected officials, public health officials and citizens. This may help to overcome some of the challenges related to community values and jurisdictions which were identified. However, new financial models may also be needed. Though it is beyond the scope of this research to suppose what those are, a key next step is to understand how education reform currently underway will affect school financing and choice. These macro-level issues will continue to set the constraints for school siting decision-making. Still, at the local level, proactive school districts which volunteer to collaborate should be able to get ahead of the growth curve and connect their schools to their communities.

Committee: Christopher Auffrey PhD (Committee Chair); Marisa Zapata PhD (Committee Member); Lisa Simpson MB, BCh, MPH, FAAP (Committee Member) Subjects: Urban Planning

MCP, University of Cincinnati, 2009, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning : Community Planning

Planning in United States during the last forty years has focused more on theautomobile usage and less on the people. This approach has created an automobile dependent society where walking has become increasingly difficult and unsafe. Today with greater awareness towards environmental issues and health concerns, people are realizing the negative consequence of their over dependence on automobiles. The ill effects of the increased automobile usage have drawn greater attention to the benefits of walking as never before. Many people are now aware about the importance of walking as a mode of travel and have started supporting walkable communities. There are many theories such as New Urbanism and Neotraditional Development that spread the positive aspects of walkable community. Substantial research has been carried out that analyze the importance of walkability and on ways to create walkable neighborhoods. This thesis finds the extant of influence of this research literature on the formation of local government regulations and guidelines. This is done by studying the zoning codes of certain selected cities and determining the extent of walkability standards incorporated in those codes. The study shows a gap between the research on improving walkability and the actual standards followed by local government regulations to make their neighborhoods walkable. This study recommends a set of general guidelines to incorporate walkability into the local government regulations.

Committee: Menelaos Triantafillou (Committee Chair); Frank Russell (Committee Member); Margaret Wuerstle (Other) Subjects: Urban Planning

MCP, University of Cincinnati, 2008, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning : Community Planning

Urban hiking guides can be a useful tool in the revitalization of a community. Asset-based Community Development works well in the planning of an urban hiking guide. Effective guides are clear, simple, easy to use and easily available. Guides function as planning tools, promoting citizen involvement, creating local pride and interest while encouraging physical activity and healthier living. An urban hiking guide can be a community wide effort. This study analyzes various guides. The analysis is based on particular assets and ideas identified in literature that make urban hiking guides useful in asset-based community development. Urban hiking guides can assist planners in highlighting assets while involving the community in their work. Ideally this study will be used as the start of a handbook for communities. The handbook could be placed on a website for the communities. This way it can always be updated with lessons learned by the communities.

Committee: Chris Auffrey PhD (Committee Chair); Carla Chifos PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Area Planning and Development

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2008, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning : Regional Development Planning

The goal of this research was to model the effects of park attributes, neighborhood walkability, and social capital on proximate home values. The results are expected to be useful for planners to design park-centric neighborhood revitalization plans, and for city governments to increase their revenues due to capitalization of park land on adjacent home values. The hedonic price model was used to determine household preferences for home features, park attributes, and neighborhood characteristics because within and outside home characteristics are untraded goods. Hedonic estimation was done using multilevel models because homes were nested in park neighborhoods. Park attributes were assessed using an observational tool, the Environmental Assessment of Parks and Recreational Spaces tool, developed by an interdisciplinary team in the University of Cincinnati. An exploratory factor analysis was done on park attributes and the factors were used to estimate multilevel models after controlling for home features and neighborhood income. Three types of models were generated: the intercept only, random intercepts, and random intercepts and slopes. Generally, activity areas in parks in parks were negatively associated with home values and informal open spaces were positively related. Travel distance moderated the effect of direct distance on home values and households showed a negative preference for very low levels of associational activity in park neighborhoods. Finally, evidence was found for housing submarkets, which indicated the potential of park neighborhoods to be designated as target neighborhoods in neighborhood revitalization plans.

Committee: Chris Auffrey (Committee Chair); Mahayar Arefi (Committee Member); Rao Marepalli (Committee Member) Subjects: Urban Planning

Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, 2005, Geography (Arts and Sciences)

Half of America lives in suburban neighborhoods that were designed to facilitate the movement of automobiles, while limiting the mobility of pedestrians. The dependence of people on cars has impacted the environment in terms of air quality and land use, and public health in terms of physical fitness, social interaction, and equity of access to destinations. This thesis is a case study of three communities in suburban Cincinnati, Ohio: the City of Mason and Deerfield Township in Warren County, and West Chester Township in Butler County. I have synthesized a variety of methods used to measure pedestrian accessibility and infrastructure distribution. Using GIS, I have added to existing quantitative measures the concept of pedestrian impedance. This metric is combined with measurements of route distance and directness, and analyzed in conjunction with site maps and field observations, providing a comprehensive method for analyzing pedestrian accessibility, and targeting areas for infrastructure improvements.

Committee: Christopher Boone (Advisor) Subjects: Geography