This study uses an agent-based modeling (ABM) approach to simulate residential dynamics in an area of Boston, a city that has increasingly experienced gentrification in the past decades. The model is instantiated using housing data from the City of Boston Assessing Department and uses simple decision-making rules for four classes of agents to simulate the …
Tag Archive: UrbanandRegionalPlanning
Mar
09
Mar
08
Design and analysis of vehicle sharing programs: A systems approach
Transit, touted as a solution to urban mobility problems, cannot match the addictive flexibility of the automobile. 86% of all trips in the U.S. are in personal vehicles. A more recent approach to reduce automobile dependence is through the use of Vehicle Sharing Programs (VSPs). A VSP involves a fleet of vehicles located strategically at …
Mar
04
Integrated flood management model: A socio-technical systems approach to overcome institutional problems in Jakarta
Urban flooding is a systemic problem of urban areas in developing countries, which face other difficult problems of urbanization, social inequality, and environmental degradation. The threats may overwhelm the institutional capacity to respond and cities may be unable to cope with the consequences. Although floods are triggered by natural events, the hazards they present are …
Mar
02
Integrated flood management model: A socio-technical systems approach to overcome institutional problems in Jakarta
Urban flooding is a systemic problem of urban areas in developing countries, which face other difficult problems of urbanization, social inequality, and environmental degradation. The threats may overwhelm the institutional capacity to respond and cities may be unable to cope with the consequences. Although floods are triggered by natural events, the hazards they present are …
Feb
26
Adaptation to climate change in local water resource management
The purpose of this thesis is to examine the degree to which local water managers in the Boston Metropolitan area are incorporating concerns about climate change into their management strategies and to offer suggestions for future water management in the context of climate change. Water resource management is a system bounded by uncertainties. Changes in …
Feb
13
Methodology to convert a transportation planning origin-destination matrix into a microscopic traffic simulation origin-destination matrix
Microscopic traffic simulation MTS) is a cost-effective approach for the evaluation of traffic conditions in urban highways networks. In MTS models, traffic demand that is entered into the network is specified by one or several Origin-Destination O-D) matrices. A major challenge in the application of MTS for large urban networks is the specification of the …
Jan
20
New methods for identifying robust long-term water resources management strategies for California
Assuring sufficient, high-quality water supplies for California over the next several decades will be a great challenge for water resource managers. Urban water needs are likely to grow while climate change, surface and groundwater pollution, infrastructure aging, and changing management priorities may decrease future supply and impact its reliability. Choosing an appropriate management response using …
Jan
19
Impacts of water supply utility privatization on urban households and the environment in Benin
Privatization of state-owned utilities has become a cornerstone principle of economic reform program implemented in LDC under the auspices IFIs as state-led interventions have become discredited on behalf of economic efficiency. This study assessed potential effects of water privatization utility on urban households and environment in Benin (West Africa). I hypothesized that the privatization of …
Jan
19
Safe streets, livable streets: A positive approach to urban roadside design
Transportation safety is a highly contentious issue in the design of cities and communities. To enhance community “livability,” urban designers, architects and city planners often encourage the placement of street trees, aesthetic street lights, and other roadside features in a “buffer zone” between the pedestrian realm and the vehicle travelway. While such designs clearly enhance …
Jan
15
The integration of natural infrastructure into urban design: Evaluating the contribution of the urban forest to neighbourhood sustainability
The urban forest provides many environmental, economic, and social benefits. Evaluating several Toronto neighbourhood designs, it was determined that potential leaf area density (PLAD) is inversely proportional to residential density. Post war suburban, contemporary sub urban, and new urbanist neighbourhood types have residential densities of 12, 20, and 24 dwellings/hectare and PLADs of 1.7, 1.3, …