Applied Spatial Analysis and Policy 

About: Applied Spatial Analysis and Policy is an academic journal published by Springer Science+Business Media. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Population & Geography. It has an ISSN identifier of 1874-4621. Over the lifetime, 493 publications have been published receiving 5559 citations.

A Toolkit for Measuring Sprawl

Abstract: Debate regarding suburban sprawl in urban studies is contentious. It is fair to say that the phenomenon is not fully understood to satisfaction in the academic, policy, or planning communities and there are a host of reasons why this may be the case. Characterization of sprawl in the literature is often narrative and subjective. Measurement is piecemeal and largely data-driven. Existing studies yield contrary results for the same cities in many cases. The partial appreciation for the intricacies of sprawl is problematic. In practice, city planning agencies and citizen advocacy groups are scrambling to suggest and develop “smart growth” strategies to curb sprawl, without a strong empirical basis for measuring the phenomenon. Yet, sprawl is extremely popular with consumers. In this paper, we develop an innovative approach to diagnosing sprawl, looking across the full range of its characteristic attributes in a comprehensive fashion that is robust to some well-known challenges. This proves to be very useful in sweeping the parameter space of the phenomenon, enabling the visualization and valuation of sprawl surfaces across attributes, allowing us to check the pulse of a developing city. We apply the work to Austin, TX, a controversial exemplar of American sprawl, with the surprising result that sprawl and “smart growth” are found to co-exist and co-evolve. This raises questions about relationships between the two, with consequences for planning and public policy.

Revisiting a Hegemonic Concept: Long-term ‘Mediterranean Urbanization’ in Between City Re-polarization and Metropolitan Decline

Abstract: Urban development in southern Europe differs from urbanization patterns observed in other affluent countries. Urbanization processes in the Mediterranean region reflect heterogeneous spatial forms and more similar socioeconomic dynamics. Rejecting a unique ‘Mediterranean city’ model, this study proposes a thorough analysis of post-war urban development in four southern European countries (Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain) focusing on homogeneous patterns and possible sources of heterogeneity in spatio-temporal trends of individual city expansion. Urbanization without industrialization - boosted by the informal economy and the development of traditional services - has driven the growth of large cities through agglomeration economies enhanced by internal immigration. This trend has deflated shortly after the end of the baby boom, favoring slow dynamics towards spatially-balanced settlements and determining a recovery of medium-sized cities, which have been further consolidated with the economic crisis.

Identifying Change Over Time in Small Area Socio-Economic Deprivation

Abstract: The measurement of area level deprivation is the subject of a wide and ongoing debate regarding the appropriateness of the geographical scale of analysis, the input indicator variables and the method used to combine them into a single figure index. Whilst differences exist, there are strong correlations between schemes. Many policy-related and academic studies use deprivation scores calculated cross-sectionally to identify areas in need of regeneration and to explain variations in health outcomes. It would be useful then to identify whether small areas have changed their level of deprivation over time and thereby be able to: monitor the effect of industry closure; assess the impact of area-based planning initiatives; or determine whether a change in the level of deprivation leads to a change in health. However, the changing relationship with an outcome cannot be judged if the ‘before’ and ‘after’ situations are based on deprivation measures which use different, often time-point specific variables, methods and geographies. Here, for the whole of the UK, inputs to the Townsend index obtained from the 1991 and 2001 Censuses have been harmonised in terms of variable detail and with the 1991 data converted to the 2001 Census ward geography. Deprivation has been calculated so that the 1991 scores are directly comparable with those for 2001. Change over time can be then identified. Measured in this way, deprivation is generally shown to have eased due to downward trends in levels of lack of access to a car, non-home ownership, household overcrowding but most particularly, to reductions in levels of unemployment. Despite these trends, not all locations became less deprived with gradients of deprivation largely persisting within the UK’s constituent countries and in different area types. For England, Wales and Scotland, the calculation of Townsend scores can readily be backdated to incorporate data from the 1971 and 1981 Censuses to create a 1971–2001 set of comparable deprivation scores. The approach can also be applied to the Carstairs index. Due to differences in data availability prior to 1991, incorporating small areas in Northern Ireland would be challenging.

Vulnerability and Exposure to Crime: Applying Risk Terrain Modeling to the Study of Assault in Chicago

Abstract: Prior research has applied risk assessment and spatial analysis techniques to the study of violence. This paper builds on those results, tying the practical outcomes of spatial risk analysis methods to broader spatial issues on the articulation of risky places for aggravated assault. We begin by conceptualizing key relationships, addressing the effects of environmental factors on creating distinct, identifiable areas that are conducive to crime. Propositions of the theory of risky places are posed and then empirically tested using a GIS based program, RTMDx, on aggravated assault data in an urban area. Given the current thinking about crime vulnerability based on concentration and spatial influence of features and events, this paper offers an analytical strategy to model risky places that combines the conceptual insights of crime emergence and persistence, advances in geo-spatial analytical techniques, and micro-level data.

Estimating the Effects of Light Rail Transit (LRT) System on Residential Property Values Using Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR)

Abstract: This study assesses the effect of light rail transit system (LRT) on residential property values in Greater Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where traffic congestion has been a major issue since the mid 1990s. A relatively new technique namely Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) is employed to estimate the increased value of land in the form of residential property values as a result of improved accessibility owing to the construction of the LRT systems. Using the Kelana Jaya LRT Line, located in Greater Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia as a case study, this paper reveals that the improvement of accessibility to employment and other amenities provided by the LRT system added premiums on residential property values but with spatial variation over geographical area indicates that the existence of the LRT systems may have a positive effect on residential property values in some areas but negative in others. The use of the GWR in this study is identified as a better approach to investigate the effect of the LRT system on residential property values since it has the capability to produce meaningful results by revealing spatially varying relationship.