Geographic Information Systems and Urban Planning

Candice-Michelle Weems
GEO565 Geographic Information Systems and Science
Annotated Bibliography Term Project
Dr.Dawn Wright

Article 1. Abukhater, A. B. 2011. Effective Growth Management. Best Practices: GIS for Urban and Regional Planning
The author of this article shows how a GIS can visually display the differences in parcel suitability for development plans of a city based the goals of a developer and that of an environmentalist. The results were very different based on how the variables (agriculture, forestland, wetlands, airport locality, and schools etc.) were weighted in the valuation process. The developer had more areas that he/she deemed suitable for development as compared to the environmentalist who had very few areas that were considered appropriate areas for development. The decisions that each person could make would be solely based on how they weighted the criteria. This is an example of how different outcomes can be derived from using the same datasets, variables however they are dependent on the user of the GIS and what is of major importance to that user. The GIS can be very powerful and shows that no answer is wrong but it is determinant upon what the user wants to achieve.

Article 2. Baran, P.K., Khattak, A.J., and Rodriguez, D.A. 2008. Space Syntax & Walking in New Urbanist and Suburban Neighborhood. Journal of Urban Design, 13:5-28.
The main idea of this article is to assess whether space syntax theory relates to the actual walking behavior of residents in new urbanist and conventional suburban neighborhoods. Space syntax implies that a desirable network of streets consists of streets that have longer lines of sight, less need to for making turns, and the streets that have a number of different entry sites or the ability to reach the point from other points. To test this theory the authors used axial maps to determine the connectiveness of the neighborhoods using three variables (connectivity, integration and control). The conclusions of this article state that New Urbanist design is consistent with the walking behavior of its residents providing more opportunity for leisure walking because there is a better overall connectivity of streets than that of conventional suburban neighborhoods. This article has provided me with another way of analyzing neighborhoods using the GIS technique of building axial maps.

Article 3. Essa, S., Chan, Y., Urban Planning and Development Applications of GIS. ASCE
This book is separated into two parts the first focusing on GIS methodologies and the second providing focus on the actual GIS applications used in urban planning and development. This book offers an overview of the ways GIS can be used in implementing plans and ideas for urban development. Specialty topics included in this publication are spatial decision-support systems, GIS integration with analytical models, 3-D analysis and more. This book provides great insight into understanding how applications can be applied to the field of urban planning and is a useful reference and starting point for beginners and specialists alike who are looking to use certain GIS techniques.

Article 4. ESRI. 2011. Rosario C. Giusti de Pérez Brings Urban Planning to the Slums of Venezuela. Best Practices: GIS for Urban and Regional Planning.
This article shows how GIS is used to bring residents together to see the future of their town and where it can go. Rosario Perez, has seen that Venezuela’s towns are filled with slum and shanty-towns. While these places are both unsustainable and overall unhealthy for its inhabitants, through the use of GIS tools, Perez is able to map out these areas and analyze them based on their attributes or characteristics that they possess. Perez saw a need to help the people of Venezuela and through her use of GIS tools she was able to analyze the complex slum situations and help the people in the slums visualize what towns could be and incorporate them into the planning processes. Through interviews with the people she was able to understand what the greatest needs were, then devise plans regarding their needs and prioritize these needs based on the GIS tools. This is yet another way that GIS can be used for the good of urban planning and development.

Article 5. Gocmen, Z.A., and Ventura, S. 2010. Barriers to GIS Use in Planning. Journal of the American Planning Association, 76 (2): 172-183.
The authors of this article focus on how Geographic Information Systems have been adopted as a technique used in planning, with a particular focus on how planners have been stifled in using this dynamic tool to make better decisions regarding planning and development issues. The authors performed a case study in Wisconsin surveying planners who identified as using GIS in a planning capacity. The results suggested that the main issue impeding use of GIS in a more dynamic way beyond basic analysis functions is having a full understanding of the GIS applications and how they can enhance planning procedures and training opportunities to enhance skill set and keep up with the every changing technology within GIS. This article shows the importance of having proper education within the workplace so that planners can make better decisions with the technology that is available. With the ever changing world of GIS maintaining up to date information is tough but also much needed. Advancements in technology are useless without proper knowledge and application of the tools available.

Article 6. Goss, J. 1995. “We Know Who You Are and We Know Where You Live:” The Instrumental Rationality of Geodemographic Systems. Economic Geography, 72 (2): 171-198.
This article focuses on the use of GIS in aiding the process of identifying persons based on demographic characteristics for schemes of marketing known as geodemographics. The use of this method brings concerns about privacy and stereotypes that arise when generalizations are made about one’s residential location, race, age and other demographic factors. While Geographic Information Systems is a great tool for analysis and answering questions of where and how things might occur the how the information is used becomes an ethical and moral issue. With regard to planning and this article can be helpful in understanding that GIS is a dynamic tool that should be used with care and ease and solely using computational data is not the whole story and one must use qualitative data as well to ensure that all perspectives are taken into consideration and should not replace traditional qualitative and observational work done on the ground.

7. Kim, D. 2004. A 3D GIS database framework for facilitating public participation in urban planning and design.URISA.
Community participation is a major asset to the planning process. When the community gets involved it not only produces a atmosphere conducive for building successful social networks but also allows residents to feel as though their opinions matter and are being heard by the local authorities. The problem with community participation lies in the ability to effectively communicate the scientific data to non-professional participants. When this barrier is broken down and parties are able to essentially understand the language of scientists in a non-scientific manner better planning is inevitable. This article shows how 3D GIS can be incorporated in the planning process to provide participants with a full understanding of the objectives and plans being proposed. The urban model inputs aerial photos, GIS data such as parcels, census data and other components that fit into a geodatabase that produces a 3D visualization of the subject area. The 3D model provides a realistic view of the area allowing users to essentially walk, drive and interact with the urban-virtual world. Participants are able to step inside of the neighborhood and make suggestions and incorporate ideas that will allow for more functionality within the proposed site. This advancement in technology improves the way scientific data is communicated to the unscientific world. Bridging these gaps are essential for community-based projects and effective planning methods.

Article 8. Kyushik Oh, Yeunwoo Jeong, Dongkun Lee, Wangkey Lee, Jaeyong Choi, 2005. Determining development density using the Urban Carrying Capacity Assessment System. Landscape and Urban Planning, 73: 1–15.
The article talks about the need to understand the carrying capacity of urban areas, due to the adverse affects that can occur to both the environment and human well-being if the threshold of capacity is crossed. The basis for this article is due to Seoul’s past trend in poorly managed development including high-rise buildings and transportation, which led to major concerns regarding their air and water quality. To mitigate this issue, the researchers are using GIS tools to provide an assessment analysis of carrying capacity based on seven criteria (water supply, waste treatment, sewage, subway systems, roads, green areas, and energy). Researchers used this model to compare the Seoul’s blocks based on these criteria to determine at this point whether or not the current population was exceeding or within their carrying capacity. The future implications of this are better management; as they have found that a lot of areas are exceeding in their carrying capacity for at least 6 of the criteria. Only 4 areas are within their carrying capacity for all of the criteria. Given this information appropriate attention can be given to the high risk areas.
The carrying capacity assessment tool would be a good tool to use in my own research, to identify areas that are in need of better management of their high density populated areas, in providing new urbanist design which will address a lot of the issues that can emerge from issues of exceeding carrying capacity.

Article 9. Longley, P., 2002. Geographic Information Systems: will developments in urban remote sensing and GIS lead to better urban geography? Progress in Human Geography, 26: 231-239.
The author of this article presents an overview of how remote sensing has influenced the realm of urban systems, its convergence with GIS and how it relates to urban geography. He states that while there is a lot of progress with remote sensing, its general application to urban systems and landscape has been hard pressed. There is a need to achieve better methods of classifying urban land use. The author points out that ANN (Artificial Neural Networks) and Fuzzy sets are methods that could be joined together for use of classification however; this is not a cure all. In addition, other methods that are being used are unable to provide inferences of land use function from the spatial patterns. In light of these shortcomings, the author calls for more research to be done to enhance remote sensing for more effective use in urban systems research.

Article 10. Morgan, H. and Deuben, L., 2005. Planning at the Speed of Change.URISA.
This article focuses on a three year project that uses community participation to create maps in real-time. Real-time data is used because, it is thought that in order to provide appropriate planning up to date information is needed to provide the best course of action. Through the use of web-based GIS tools communities are able to come together to plan and develop their communities in a thoughtful manner with technologies that allow for more accurate planning methods. Such accuracies include the incorporation of applying attributes to parcel blocks that are mapped, such as land use type, property delineation, environmental susceptibility measures and historical properties. The web-based GIS tools are important for the future of GIScience, with new technologies arising daily planners are able to reevaluate plans to ensure that the best up to date knowledge is being used throughout their planning processes.

Article 11. Neckerman, K.M., Lovasi, G.S., Davies, S., Purciel, M., Quinn, J., Feder, E., Raghunath, N., Wasserman, B., and Rundle, A. 2009. Disparities in Urban Neighborhood Conditions: Evidence from GIS Measures and Field Observation in New York City. Journal of Public Health Policy, 30: S264-S285.
The authors use GIS measures to assess the differences between poor and non-poor neighborhoods. The neighborhoods are considered to be equal to each other with regard to connectivity and walkability. It was found that non-poor neighborhood residents are more likely to walk about a neighborhood than those in the poor neighborhood. The findings are consistent with the ideals that one will be more likely to use the neighborhood when one feels safe, there is aesthetic appeal as well as other factors such as less noise. Using the GIS program several components could be assessed spatially. This can lead to better city planning and target areas to provide more attention for the integration of parks and other urban open spaces, with the intention to aesthetically build up areas to result in a higher quality of life, sense of place and community for residents of the area.

Article 12. Netzband, M., Redman, C., Stefanov, W.L., 2007. Applied Remote Sensing for Urban Planning Governance and Sustainability. Springer
This book was written to provide a synthesis of examples of widely used approaches to solve issues that are faced by developed and developing areas. It is based on the 100 Cities Project out of Arizona State University, this project aims to identify spatial and socio-ecological characteristics of cities and their structure to build methods using remotely sensed data to solve environmental issues. The book outlines a number of case studies where remote sensed data has been used to gather information to help in implementing appropriate plans for urban planning and the role it plays in governance. This book is less technical than it is in providing an overview of studies on how remote sensed data was used in each study. The overall findings in the case studies were that new ways of applying remote sensed data allows for efficiency and looking at information differently than before. For some case studies, such as Buenos Aires, using RS was a brand new practice that renedered positive results for planning. In terms of governance, there are specific questions that should be asked when considering the use of RS in policy-making decisions, due to its ability of misrepresenting certain facets of information, the responsibility falls on the interpreter of the information and ensues another area of great interest that is GIS and ethics. In the images below you will see and actual photo and a ditigal remote sensed photo of urban sprawl butting against the productive, agricultural lands, one of the many environmental issues that is occuring in Delhi.

Article 13. Perkins, D.D., Larson, C. and Brown, B. 2009. Mapping Urban Revitilization: Using GIS Spatial Analysis to Evaluate a New Housing Policy. Journal of Prevention & Intervention in the Community, 37 (1): 48-65.
The authors of the article use GIS to map the urban revitalization that took place in Salt Lake City Utah. They also performed a spatial analysis of the impacts that the revitalization had on the communities adjacent to the study site. The authors were very clear in their methods of how they used GIS analyzing tools to produce the outcomes. This will provide a basis for analyzing urban renewal in my own research. This article also shows how they were able to use GIS applications to produce maps to provide better context and visual understanding of the processes occurring in the study site for nonscientific persons reviewing the information. Lastly, using the GIS gave quantitative stability to the research.

Article 14. Radeloff, V.C., R. B. Hammer, S. I. Stewart, J. S. Fried, S. S. Holcomb, J. F. 2005. The Wildland-Urban Interface in the United States. Ecological Applications, 15 (3): 799-805.
How effective urban planning is can save lives, property and ecosystem services. The on-going problem in some areas is that the lack of preventative planning has led to increased housing densities that bump up against the wild-land areas. This is a major issue due to the devastation that can sweep through an area due to wildfires and other natural disasters. The wildland-urban interface (WUI) is considered areas of high risk due to the sprawl of urban areas. In this case study A GIS was used to assess the areas that are considered to be too close to the wildland areas. It is the hope that by using GIS and characterizing these places, and spatially understanding them, solutions can be made to accommodate and help residents anticipate the changes that are encroaching upon their urban land. Here the GIS is able to use specific attributes to analyze, compare and contrast places in order to prioritize site susceptibility. In this case, GIS is a dynamic tool that is being used in the capacity to save lives and identify areas where improvements to the developmental process are needed. The GIS overlays census block data, along with housing densities to understand areas that will be of high priority for danger due to wildfires and other issues such as animal migration patterns. When the prioritization of these areas is taken into consideration proper laws and policies can be implemented not only to protect residents but to protect the open spaces, and animals that are being encroached upon.

Article 15. Yeh, Anthony Gar-On and Li, Xia 1998. 'Sustainable land development model for rapid growth areas using GIS.' International Journal of Geographical Information Science, 12: 169-189.
The authors use GIS and Remote Sensing tools to provide a way of modeling the land for proper land use management. Based on the model, officials are able to see land use types suitable for growth and development, while avoiding areas most suitable for agricultural land. This a sustainable method that aims to preserve land and open spaces and reduce the amount of “willy-nilly” development that encourages sprawl, land and ecosystem degradation. The researchers found that implementation of their model would benefit future generations in the prevention of loss of valuable agricultural land. These models provide a way to build on the land yet in a sustainable manner. Remote sensing has evolved in such a way that will allow planners to effectively manage and allocate land for future use.

Thank you for visiting my GIS and Urban Planning website. This website was created as course project for GEO-565 Geographic Information Systems and Science course at Oregon State University. It is my hope that you have found this site to be an infomrative starting point to understand the ways in which applications of GIS and discussions of GIScience have been used in the field of urban geography and more specifically urban planning.

If you have any questions or concerns please contact Candice-Michelle Weems.