Nature orientation and opportunity: Who values and who has opportunity for satisfactory green spaces in proximity to their place of residence

Urban green spaces (UGS) provide important contributions to people. Yet, UGS planning requires better understanding of by whom and where such contributions are being valued or missed. Based on a mixed-methods online survey and choice experiment with residents of Wellington in Aotearoa New Zealand, we analyse how much and why residents value UGS and their benefits when deciding where to live and how socio-economic and spatial factors might impact nature orientation and opportunity for satisfactory local UGS. We find that local UGS are an important residential choice criteria for the majority of respondents, especially in the context of Wellington’s intensification plans. However, we show that socio-economic and spatial factors significantly impact whether someone values and is satisfied with UGS in proximity to their place of residence. Our findings call for careful scoping of a city’s population and spatial structure when planning for equitable UGS provision. More holistic approaches to green space planning are needed to address contextualities and the complex interdependencies between nature orientation and opportunity and to plan for green space distributions that provide opportunities now and help shaping nature orientation for future generations

A missed opportunity for health promotion? Perceptions of large‐scale housing developments in Aotearoa New Zealand

AbstractLarge‐scale housing developments (LHD) are increasingly being used to accommodate population growth in (sub)urban Aotearoa, but their market‐oriented and delivery‐focused approach raises questions about whether resulting housing supplies meet residents' expectations for a healthy living environment. Based on a mixed‐methods survey with expert and non‐expert residents in the Wellington Region, this research critically examines LHD and underscores the pressing need for a stronger emphasis on health promotion in rapidly growing (sub)urban environments. The study reveals a strong desire among study participants for more social infrastructure in LHD, responsibility on part of LHD developers towards communal values and community engagement

Understanding Street Tree Inequities: The Interrelation of Urban Layout and Socio-Economics

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Venturing outside: Journeying, belonging and parental wellbeing

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Emerging urban form – Emerging pollution: Modelling endogenous health and environmental effects of traffic on residential choice

Air pollution bears severe health and environmental impacts and is of increasing concern to urban planners but densification strategies have ambiguous impacts. We analyse how households’ aversion to generating and being exposed to traffic pollution at the residential place and during their commute influences emerging urban structures and how these structures in turn affect pollution exposure and the residential choice of households. Resulting spatial patterns are difficult to predict because of this feedback and the spatial form of urbanisation and road networks. We address this complexity with a micro-economic agent-based residential choice model dynamically coupled with a cellular automata model for pollution dispersion and its perception in neighbourhoods. Our simulation experiments on a theoretical grid suggest that the spatial scale of this perception is important. We also find that if both health and environmental concerns are to be addressed, a combination of reducing commuting distances and preserving local green spaces is necessary. In particular, locally dispersed urban development and intra-urban green spaces next to busy roads can mitigate pollution exposure

Planning for urban livability: Integrating socio-spatial indicators in city-making

Visions of livable neighborhoods are receiving increasing priority on contemporary city-making agendas. Yet, while city-makers have long turned to various tools supporting economic and environmental visions, there is a limited integration of indicators to enhance socio-spatial outcomes, such as urban livability (UL).UL has underlying spatial and cultural components, adding significant complexity to city-making practices. This is often not adequately taken into account in current decision-support tools, nor in planning processes. This research examines gaps to enable indicator-led city-making for integrated socio-spatial outcomes with multiple partners and collaborators. This study exposes key challenges for the integration of socio-spatial indicators in city-making processes, with an international literature review and a survey among city-makers in Aotearoa New Zealand. It highlights critical barriers such as the need for culturally appropriate data and indicators, engagement, and improved feedback between collaborating stakeholders. While offering some practical recommendations for city-making research and practice, our findings suggest that systemic changes are necessary to dismantle existing power dominances and to influence current city-making paradigms to reflect critical ontological shifts

Venturing outside: Local journeying, belonging and new parenthood

The transition to parenthood is a transformative journey marked by numerous adjustments, presenting both physical and mental health challenges. Recognising the crucial role of a sense of belonging for parental health in this transition, this study delves into the experiences of new parents, exploring the act of “journeying” within their local geographies. Through analysis of an online survey among new parents in suburban Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand, this study highlights the multifaceted role of journeying, not only as physical movement but as a slow-creeping transformative process that affects connections with local environments, people, and places, highlighting the importance of local geographies in new parents’ journey towards belonging

SOAC 2023: Pacific Futures – Australasian Cities in Transition

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A two-stage residential location and transport mode choice model with exposure to traffic-induced air pollution

Air pollution is an increasing concern to urban residents. In response, residents are beginning to adapt their travel behaviour and to consider local air quality when choosing a home. We study implications of such behaviour for the morphology of cities and population exposure to traffic-induced air pollution. To do so, we propose a spatially explicit and integrated residential location and transport mode choice model for a city with traffic-induced air pollution. Intra-urban spatial patterns of population densities, transport mode choices, and resulting population exposure are analysed for urban settings of varying levels of health concern and air pollution information available to residents. Numerical analysis of the feedback between residential location choice and transport mode choice, and between residents' choices and the subsequent potential impact on their own health suggests that increased availability of information on spatially variable traffic-induced health concerns shifts population towards suburban areas with availability of public transport. Thus, health benefits result from reduced population densities close to urban centres in this context. To mitigate population exposure, our work highlights the need for spatially explicit information on peoples' air pollution concerns and, on this basis, spatially differentiated integrated land use and transport measures

Developing a conceptual framework for characterizing and measuring social resilience in blue-green infrastructure (BGI).

Many cities are increasingly adopting blue-green infrastructure (BGI) to bolster their resilience against environmental challenges. Beyond its well-acknowledged environmental benefits, the role of BGI in enhancing social resilience is becoming an equally important area of focus. However, the integration of BGI in fostering social resilience presents complexities, stemming from the evolving and occasionally ambiguous definition of social resilience. Considering the broad application of BGI across various disciplines makes the evaluation of social resilience within a BGI framework complex. Consequently, a structured approach to develop a clear framework tailored to understanding and measuring social resilience in a BGI setting is needed. This study consolidates various existing frameworks of social resilience, especially utilizing the detailed 5S framework proposed by Saja et al. It integrates findings from an extensive review of literature on social resilience to develop a novel conceptual framework—the BGI Social Resilience Framework. This new framework specifically aims to capture the distinct social aspects and advantages associated with BGI. The BGI Social Resilience Framework is organized into a three-tier model, focusing on four critical aspects of social resilience—social values, social capital, social structure, and social equity—and explores how these aspects are interconnected. Characteristics and indicators are customized to accommodate the context of BGI in a way that integrates the physical and human dimensions within a comprehensive approach to measurement that uses a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. Specifically, this research formulates a theoretical framework for BGI with the aim of investigating BGI strategies and viewpoints that bolster social resilience. The BGI Social Resilience Framework takes into account the varied demographics and the physical characteristics of urban areas to explore ways to create BGI spaces that are more inclusive and that contribute to the enhancement of social resilience