Designing healthy communities: A walkability analysis of LEED-ND

AbstractPrevailing city design in many countries has created sedentary societies that depend on automobile use. Consequently, architects, urban designers, and land planners have developed new urban design theories, which have been incorporated into the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Neighborhood Development (LEED-ND) certification system. The LEED-ND includes design elements that improve human well-being by facilitating walking and biking, a concept known as walkability. Despite these positive developments, relevant research findings from other fields of study have not been fully integrated into the LEED-ND. According to Zuniga-Teran (2015), relevant walkability research findings from multiple disciplines were organized into a walkability framework (WF) that organizes design elements related to physical activity into nine categories, namely, connectivity, land use, density, traffic safety, surveillance, parking, experience, greenspace, and community. In this study, we analyze walkability in the LEED-ND through the lens of the nine WF categories. Through quantitative and qualitative analyses, we identify gaps and strengths in the LEED-ND and propose potential enhancements to this certification system that reflects what is known about enhancing walkability more comprehensively through neighborhood design analysis. This work seeks to facilitate the translation of research into practice, which can ultimately lead to more active and healthier societies

Simulating recreation behaviour in complex wilderness landscapes using spatially-explicit autonomous agents

This work introduces and explores the potential of using intelligent agent based modeling and simulation as a tool for examining the complex interactions between recreators and the environment, and interactions between recreators as a means to improving the our understanding of the recreational use of wildland settings. In this research the concept of rule driven autonomous agents as surrogates for human visitors is introduced. Agents are designed to represent the actions of the individual recreators (hiking, mountain bike riding, and pink jeep tour outfitters). Behavioural rules are derived from visitor surveys and interviews conducted in Broken Arrow Canyon, Arizona. The autonomous agents can be seen to dynamically move over a GIS based model of the Broken Arrow landscape. Line-of-sight calculations determine whether an individual agent is able to 'see' other agents and are used as method to record 'actual' and 'perceived' encounters with other agents. Using agent location maps combined with the underlying GIS data the agents can be observed moving across the landscape, pausing, changing pace, lingering at a view-point etc. A discussion focuses on analysing the resulting behaviours found in these simulations and additionally to explore the influence of alternative trail alignments on recreator movement, congestion and crowding. Some potential future directions for this research are discussed

Designing healthy communities: Testing the walkability model

Research from multiple domains has provided insights into how neighborhood design can be improved to have a more favorable effect on physical activity, a concept known as walkability. The relevant research findings/hypotheses have been integrated into a Walkability Framework, which organizes the design elements into nine walkability categories. The purpose of this study was to test whether this conceptual framework can be used as a model to measure the interactions between the built environment and physical activity. We explored correlations between the walkability categories and physical activity reported through a survey of residents of Tucson, Arizona (n=486). The results include significant correlations between the walkability categories and physical activity as well as between the walkability categories and the two motivations for walking (recreation and transportation). To our knowledge, this is the first study that reports links between walkability and walking for recreation. Additionally, the use of the Walkability Framework allowed us to identify the walkability categories most strongly correlated with the two motivations for walking. The results of this study support the use of the Walkability Framework as a model to measure the built environment in relation to its ability to promote physical activity. (C) 2017 The Authors.Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia (CONACYT - Mexican government); Wilderness Society; University of ArizonaOpen Access Journal.This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

The Economy of Live Music in the Digital Age

Popular music culture has changed significantly with the diffusion of networked digital media in the late 1990s. The present article theorizes the concept of live music in light of those changes and develops the idea of a new economy of live music. The perception of concerts as live music is central, so this is explored conceptually and historically before outlining the main elements of the new economy. Two immediate elements are the new economic centrality of live music and the categorical change in concert ticket prices. Two other elements are the rise of new and renewed event genres and the broader dynamics of the digital information society. The article integrates perspectives of cultural and performance studies. Keywords concerts, cultural economy, live music, live performance, media and performing arts, popular culture The promoter called me around noon [on 11 September 2001] and said, ‘Look, a lot of people have been calling and saying they’re coming to the show. Do you wanna do it? ’ I said … [long pause] I really like being with people. I trust people. I like being in a group of people. I like that kind of energy. This is one of the reasons I bothered to go out on tour and not just concoct these things in my studio and ship them out and sell them. I actually like the energy of seeing real people and seeing what will happen … So, yes, that evening was very, very intense. (Laurie Anderson on Sound Opinions, Chicago Public Radio, 5 May 2008) Live Nation owes its window of opportunity to the rise of the live show as a profi