Understanding sustainable accessibility in urban planning: Themes of consensus, themes of tension

Solá, Ana Gil; Vilhelmson, Bertil; Larsson, Anders

doi:10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2018.05.010

Cited by 45 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…Meiyappan et al, 2014) would allow for heterogeneous population downscaling, and also for more realistic spatial allocation of facilities. This would facilitate comparative analyses of the impacts of greenfield development versus urban densification and infill on accessibility equity (Quiros et al, 2015;Sola et al, 2018).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Future access to essential services in a growing smart city: The case of Surrey, British Columbia

Mayaud

Tran

Pereira

et al. 2019

Computers, Environment and Urban Systems

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The concept of accessibility -the ease with which people can reach places or opportunitieslies at the heart of what makes cities livable, workable and sustainable. As urban populations shift over time, predicting the changes to accessibility demand for certain services becomes crucial for responsible and 'smart' urban planning and infrastructure investment. In this study, we investigate how projected population change could affect accessibility to essential services in the City of Surrey, one of the fastest growing cities in Canada. Our objectives are two-fold: first, to quantify the additional pressure that Surrey's growing population will have on existing facilities; second, to investigate how changes in the spatial distribution of different age and income groups will impact accessibility equity across the city. We evaluated accessibility levels to healthcare facilities and schools across Surrey's multimodal transport network using origindestination matrices, and combined this information with high-resolution longitudinal census data. Paying close attention to two vulnerable population groups -children and youth (0-19 years of age) and seniors (65+ years of age) -we analyzed shifts in accessibility demand from 2016 to 2022. The results show that population growth both within and outside the catchments of existing facilities will have varying implications for future accessibility demand in different areas of the city. By 2022, the city's hospitals and walk-in clinics will be accessible to ~9,000 and ~124,000 more people (respectively) within a predefined threshold of 30 minutes by public transport. Schools will also face increased demand, as ~8,000 additional children/youth in 2022 will move to areas with access to at least half of the city's schools.Conversely, over 27,000 more people -almost half of them seniors -will not be able to access a hospital in under 30 minutes by 2022. Since low-income and senior residents moving into poorly connected areas tend to be more reliant on public transport, accessibility equity may decline in some rural communities. Our study highlights how open-source data and code can be leveraged to conduct in-depth analysis of accessibility demand across a city, which is key for ensuring inclusive and 'smart' urban investment strategies.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Future access to essential services in a growing smart city: The case of Surrey, British Columbia

Mayaud

Tran

Pereira

et al. 2019

Computers, Environment and Urban Systems

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“…A brief methodological description follows. For a more detailed description, see Gil Solá et al [26].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is also important to note that the different understandings of proximity were crystallized from workshop discussions on the concept of sustainable accessibility, not the proximity concept as such. However, proximity was understood as central to the concept of sustainable accessibility by both the planners and the researchers [26].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It involves different paradigms and professional understandings existing side by side within the same institutions [50]. It may contain conflicting goals [51,52]: For example, although current goals of sustainable development, such as reduced emissions, are clearly expressed and defined, they often conflict with stated (or tacit) goals of the continued dominance of car-based mobility and access [26]. Such goal conflicts can be explained by policy being complex and subject to continuous evolution.…”

Section: Evolution Of Proximity Policymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Within the framework of established urban policy and planning, this understanding of proximity has become central when formulating and implementing goals regarding sustainable accessibility [26,37,39]. Proximity is to be achieved through densifying the city, mixing activities and land use, and shifting to sustainable transportation modes: Well-functioning walking, cycling, and public transport.…”

Section: The Established Understanding: Planning For Mixed Land Use Amentioning

confidence: 99%

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Negotiating Proximity in Sustainable Urban Planning: A Swedish Case

Solá

Vilhelmson

2018

Sustainability

Self Cite

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In striving for sustainability, urban policy and planning increasingly emphasize proximity ideals in order to go beyond established mobility- and speed-oriented accessibility strategies. Yet proximity is a fluid concept with many contextualized meanings, cutting across most sectors of urban planning. When proximity is realized in actual planning, clarity and communicability are therefore required. Here we explored how urban planners in different fields of expertise understand and apply the proximity concept. Furthermore, we tested a collaborative tool enabling transparent discussion and fostering a joint basis for further application. Qualitative data were collected via six semi-structured, focus-group workshops with 35 planners of various competencies working in three western Swedish municipalities. The results indicated that planning goals of proximity were negotiated according to three understandings: One derived from the established understanding of transportation and land-use integration, relying on planners’ expert views; a second emphasizing the local community understanding, highlighting the social context of neighborhoods; and a third comprising the personal environment understanding of the individual’s closest physical space at a detailed scale level. Collaborative exercises resulted in the development of a communicative tool for negotiating perceived understandings of proximity, as well as planning goals.

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Sustainable urban development and mobility. The role of spatial heterogeneity in sustainable trip patterns

Urrutia‐Mosquera,

Cortés,

Flórez‐Calderón

et al. 2024

Sustainable Development

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This paper evaluates how differences in the conditions of sustainable urban development achieved by different sectors in the metropolitan region of Santiago de Chile are generators of spatial heterogeneity and how this heterogeneity in space affects travel patterns in sustainable modes. For it, the state of progress in urban sustainability is measured in terms of urban sustainability indicators and accessibility to basic urban facilities, identifies the main shortcomings in terms of basic urban facilities that affect the use of sustainable modes of travel and shows which of the city communes require more significant interventions in terms of infrastructure and urban facilities. A geographically weighted regression (GWR) model is estimated to measure and determine how spatial heterogeneity impacts trips in sustainable modes. The results show remarkable differences in sustainable urban development and access to urban facilities between the more affluent and the less favoured sectors. The GWR parameters suggest that the different levels of urban facilities available in each area are the primary source of spatial heterogeneity and are a critical factor in the number of trips made by active modes and public transport.

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Understanding sustainable accessibility in urban planning: Themes of consensus, themes of tension

Cited by 45 publications

References 24 publications

Future access to essential services in a growing smart city: The case of Surrey, British Columbia

Future access to essential services in a growing smart city: The case of Surrey, British Columbia

Negotiating Proximity in Sustainable Urban Planning: A Swedish Case

Sustainable urban development and mobility. The role of spatial heterogeneity in sustainable trip patterns

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