Visualization methods for sustainable planning

In urban planning, both measuring and communicating sustainability are among the most recent concerns. Therefore, the primary emphasis of this thesis concerns establishing metrics and visualization techniques in order to deal with indicators of sustainability. First, this thesis provides a novel approach for measuring and monitoring two indicators of sustainability - urban sprawl and carbon footprints – at the urban neighborhood scale. By designating different sectors of relevant carbon emissions as well as different household categories, this thesis provides detailed information about carbon emissions in order to estimate impacts of daily consumption decisions and travel behavior by household type. Regarding urban sprawl, a novel gridcell-based indicator model is established, based on different dimensions of urban sprawl. Second, this thesis presents a three-step-based visualization method, addressing predefined requirements for geovisualizations and visualizing those indicator results, introduced above. This surface-visualization combines advantages from both common GIS representation and three-dimensional representation techniques within the field of urban planning, and is assisted by a web-based graphical user interface which allows for accessing the results by the public. In addition, by focusing on local neighborhoods, this thesis provides an alternative approach in measuring and visualizing both indicators by utilizing a Neighborhood Relation Diagram (NRD), based on weighted Voronoi diagrams. Thus, the user is able to a) utilize original census data, b) compare direct impacts of indicator results on the neighboring cells, and c) compare both indicators of sustainability visually.

[1]  Hans Hagen,et al.  Surface design using triangular patches , 1996, Comput. Aided Geom. Des..

[2]  Manfred Lenzen,et al.  A comparative multivariate analysis of household energy requirements in Australia, Brazil, Denmark, India and Japan , 2006 .

[3]  Hartmut Bossel,et al.  Assessing Viability and Sustainability: a Systems-based Approach for Deriving Comprehensive Indicator Sets , 2002 .

[4]  Mark Gahegan,et al.  GeoVISTA studio: a codeless visual programming environment for geoscientific data analysis and visualization , 2002 .

[5]  S. Guhathakurta.  Visualizing Planning for a Sustainable World , 2009 .

[6]  Audrey Tarrant,et al.  Color in Business, Science and Industry , 1976 .

[7]  F. Southworth,et al.  Shrinking the Carbon Footprint of Metropolitan America , 2008 .

[8]  Andrian Marcus,et al.  3D representations for software visualization , 2003, SoftVis '03.

[9]  Heidrun Schumann,et al.  Visualisierung - Grundlagen und allgemeine Methoden , 2000 .

[10]  S. Pinker.  Words and rules in the human brain , 1997, Nature.

[11]  R. Ewing,et al.  The impact of urban form on U.S. residential energy use , 2008 .

[12]  Abdul Khakee,et al.  Scenario construction for urban planning , 1991 .

[13]  M. Meyer.  Greenhouse Gas and Climate Change Assessment , 2010 .

[14]  I. Scheler.  Analyse und Visualisierung raumplanerischer Prozesse mit Hilfe von Voronoidiagrammen , 2008 .

[15]  P. Rheingans,et al.  Temporal visualization of planning polygons for efficient partitioning of geo-spatial data , 2005, IEEE Symposium on Information Visualization, 2005. INFOVIS 2005..

[16]  G. Squires.  URBAN SPRAWL AND THE UNEVEN DEVELOPMENT OF METROPOLITAN AMERICA. IN: URBAN SPRAWL: CAUSES, CONSEQUENCES AND POLICY RESPONSES , 2002 .

[17]  R. Simons,et al.  Families, Delinquency, and Crime: Linking Society's Most Basic Institution to Antisocial Behavior , 2004 .

[18]  Takeshi Naemura,et al.  Spatio-temporal sensing and visualizing of CO2 , 2009, SIGGRAPH '09.

[19]  G. Farin.  Curves and Surfaces for Cagd: A Practical Guide , 2001 .

[20]  Reid Ewing,et al.  Travel and the Built Environment: A Synthesis , 2001 .

[21]  Malcolm Munro,et al.  Virtual but visible software , 2000, 2000 IEEE Conference on Information Visualization. An International Conference on Computer Visualization and Graphics.

[22]  Christopher L. Weber.  Trade, consumption, and climate change: An input-output study of the United States , 2008 .

[23]  Hans Hagen,et al.  Modeling, Monitoring, and Visualizing Carbon Footprints at the Urban Neighborhood Scale , 2011 .

[24]  Eric J. Miller,et al.  Urban Form, Energy and the Environment: A Review of Issues, Evidence and Policy , 1996 .

[25]  Matthew E. Kahn,et al.  The Greenness of Cities: Carbon Dioxide Emissions and Urban Development , 2008 .

[26]  Daniel Mendoza,et al.  Modeling energy consumption and CO2 emissions at the urban scale: Methodological challenges and insights from the United States , 2010 .

[27]  R. Cervero,et al.  Travel Choices in Pedestrian Versus Automobile Oriented Neighborhoods - eScholarship , 1995 .

[28]  Thomas J. Nechyba,et al.  Urban Sprawl , 2004 .

[29]  Kheir Al-Kodmany,et al.  Visualization Tools and Methods in Community Planning: From Freehand Sketches to Virtual Reality , 2002 .

[30]  Michael Balzer,et al.  Software landscapes: visualizing the structure of large software systems , 2004, VISSYM'04.

[31]  John J. Bertin,et al.  The semiology of graphics , 1983 .

[32]  M.-J. Kraak.  Visualization viewpoints: beyond geovisualization , 2006, IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications.

[33]  B. Weidema,et al.  carbon footprint , 2020, Catalysis from A to Z.

[34]  Lina Huang,et al.  Study on the Spatial Pattern of Urban Commercial Service Based on Voronoi Model , 2009, 2009 International Conference on Management and Service Science.

[35]  Michael P. Johnson.  Environmental Impacts of Urban Sprawl: A Survey of the Literature and Proposed Research Agenda , 2001 .

[36]  Patricia Gober,et al.  Spatial Patterns and Determinants of Winter Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Concentrations in an Urban Environment , 2002 .

[37]  Susan L Handy,et al.  METHODOLOGIES FOR EXPLORING THE LINK BETWEEN URBAN FORM AND TRAVEL BEHAVIOR , 1996 .

[38]  Kent B. Barnes,et al.  SPRAWL DEVELOPMENT: ITS PATTERNS, CONSEQUENCES, AND MEASUREMENT , 2012 .

[39]  Onno Kuik,et al.  In search of indicators of sustainable development , 1991 .

[40]  Steve Hankey,et al.  Impacts of urban form on future US passenger-vehicle greenhouse gas emissions , 2010 .

[41]  Hans Hagen,et al.  Automatic smoothing with geometric surface patches , 1987, Comput. Aided Geom. Des..

[42]  Anne Ellaway,et al.  Perceptions of Place and Health in Socially Contrasting Neighbourhoods , 2001 .

[43]  D. Georgakellos,et al.  Trends in energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions of passenger cars and buses , 2007 .

[44]  U.S. suburbanization in the 1980s. , 1998, Regional science and urban economics.

[45]  Matthew E. Kahn.  Does sprawl reduce the black/white housing consumption gap? , 2001 .

[46]  Waldo R. Tobler.  Thirty Five Years of Computer Cartograms , 2004 .

[47]  L. W. Harrington,et al.  Measuring sustainability: issues and alternatives , 1992 .

[48]  S T Rao,et al.  Determining temporal and spatial variations in ozone air quality. , 1995, Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association.

[49]  Hans Hagen,et al.  Geometric surface patches without twist constraints , 1986, Comput. Aided Geom. Des..

[50]  W. Drummond.  Statehouse Versus Greenhouse , 2010 .

[51]  Terry C. Daniel.  Data visualization for decision support in environmental management , 1992 .

[52]  Brian Stone,et al.  Urban sprawl and air quality in large US cities. , 2008, Journal of environmental management.

[53]  Bedrich Benes,et al.  Interactive poster: Visual analytic techniques for CO2 emissions and concentrations in the United States , 2008, 2008 IEEE Symposium on Visual Analytics Science and Technology.

[54]  Kheir Al-Kodmany,et al.  Using visualization techniques for enhancing public participation in planning and design: Process, implementation, and evaluation , 1999 .

[55]  Paul K. Wright,et al.  21st Century Manufacturing , 2000 .

[56]  H. Margolis.  Visual explanations: Images and quantities, evidence and narrative , 1998 .

[57]  G. Galster,et al.  Wrestling Sprawl to the Ground: Defining and measuring an elusive concept , 2001 .

[58]  Russ Lopez,et al.  Sprawl In The 1990s , 2003, Urban affairs review.

[59]  Bettina Speckmann,et al.  On rectangular cartograms , 2007 .

[60]  Ddt Chen,et al.  Once There Were Greenfields: How Urban Sprawl is Undermining America's Environment, Economy, and Social Fabric , 1999 .

[61]  Michelle J. Hanson,et al.  A multivariate analysis of the energy intensity of sprawl versus compact living in the U.S. for 2003 , 2010 .

[62]  J. Minx,et al.  A definition of “carbon footprint” , 2010 .

[63]  Karen Payne,et al.  Techniques for Mapping Suburban Sprawl , 2002 .

[64]  T. Ramachandra,et al.  Urban sprawl: metrics, dynamics and modelling using GIS , 2004 .

[65]  J. Monteith,et al.  Boundary Layer Climates. , 1979 .

[66]  Daniel A. Keim,et al.  Information Visualization : Scope, Techniques and Opportunities for Geovisualization , 2004 .

[67]  Michele Lanza,et al.  Visualizing Software Systems as Cities , 2007, 2007 4th IEEE International Workshop on Visualizing Software for Understanding and Analysis.

[68]  C. Grimmond,et al.  Contribution of Land Use Changes to Near-Surface Air Temperatures during Recent Summer Extreme Heat Events in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area , 2010 .

[69]  G. Peters.  Carbon footprints and embodied carbon at multiple scales , 2010 .

[70]  Atsuyuki Okabe,et al.  Spatial Tessellations: Concepts and Applications of Voronoi Diagrams , 1992, Wiley Series in Probability and Mathematical Statistics.

[71]  Deepak Khare,et al.  Monitoring and modelling of urban sprawl using remote sensing and GIS techniques , 2008, Int. J. Appl. Earth Obs. Geoinformation.

[72]  Jürgen Döllner,et al.  An object-oriented approach for integrating 3D visualization systems and GIS , 2000 .

[73]  Andreas Kerren,et al.  Human-Centered Visualization Environments, GI-Dagstuhl Research Seminar, Dagstuhl Castle, Germany, March 5-8, 2006, Revised Lectures , 2007, Human-Centered Visualization Environments.

[74]  Jeffrey Kenworthy,et al.  Sustainability and Cities: Overcoming Automobile Dependence , 1999 .

[75]  Clayton Lewis,et al.  Designing for usability—key principles and what designers think , 1983, CHI '83.

[76]  Jock D. Mackinlay,et al.  Automating the design of graphical presentations of relational information , 1986, TOGS.

[77]  Nicholas F. Gray,et al.  Comparative performance of six carbon footprint models for use in Ireland , 2009 .

[78]  Daniel G. Aliaga,et al.  Visualization of Simulated Urban Spaces: Inferring Parameterized Generation of Streets, Parcels, and Aerial Imagery , 2009, IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics.

[79]  J. E. Abraham,et al.  HEURISTIC POLICY ANALYSIS OF REGIONAL LAND USE, TRANSIT, AND TRAVEL PRICING SCENARIOS USING TWO URBAN MODELS , 2002 .

[80]  M. Clawson.  Urban Sprawl and Speculation in Suburban Land , 1962 .

[81]  R. Ewing,et al.  Measuring Sprawl and Its Transportation Impacts , 2003 .

[82]  B. Delaney,et al.  Visualization in urban planning: they didn't build LA in a day , 2000 .

[83]  E. Holden,et al.  Three Challenges for the Compact City as a Sustainable Urban Form: Household Consumption of Energy and Transport in Eight Residential Areas in the Greater Oslo Region , 2005 .

[84]  Alexander Köninger,et al.  3d-Gis for Urban Purposes , 1998, GeoInformatica.

[85]  J. Bergh,et al.  Spatial sustainability, trade and indicators: an evaluation of the ‘ecological footprint’ , 1999 .

[86]  Michael Batty,et al.  Traffic, urban growth and suburban sprawl , 2003 .

[87]  Michael Balzer,et al.  Voronoi treemaps for the visualization of software metrics , 2005, SoftVis '05.

[88]  R. Ewing.  Is Los Angeles-Style Sprawl Desirable? , 1997 .

[89]  James H. Clarke,et al.  A comparison of carbon calculators , 2008 .

[90]  Gene Bazan.  Our Ecological Footprint: Reducing Human Impact on the Earth , 1997 .

[91]  Mark Gahegan,et al.  Geovisualization for knowledge construction and decision support , 2004, IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications.

[92]  Keith Andrews,et al.  Information Pyramids : A New Approach to Visualising Large Hierarchies , 1998 .

[93]  Michael Batty,et al.  Dynamics of urban sprawl , 1999 .

[94]  R Langendorf.  The 1990s: Information Systems and Computer Visualization for Urban Design, Planning, and Management , 1992 .

[95]  Andrew A. Lovett,et al.  GIS-based visualisation of development proposals: reactions from planning and related professionals , 2005, Comput. Environ. Urban Syst..

[96]  H. S. Matthews,et al.  Quantifying the global and distributional aspects of American household carbon footprint , 2008 .

[97]  Joel T. Heinen,et al.  Emerging, diverging and converging paradigms on sustainable development , 1994 .

[98]  Edward R. Tufte,et al.  Envisioning Information , 1990 .

[99]  P. Torrens,et al.  Geosimulation: Automata-based modeling of urban phenomena , 2004 .

[100]  Franz Aurenhammer,et al.  Voronoi diagrams—a survey of a fundamental geometric data structure , 1991, CSUR.

[101]  Hans Voss,et al.  Chapter 8 – GIS for Everyone: The CommonGIS Project and Beyond , 2003 .

[102]  M. J. Swift,et al.  On agricultural sustainability and its measurement in small-scale farming in sub-Saharan Africa☆ , 1994 .

[103]  L. Berkman,et al.  Neighborhoods and health , 2003 .

[104]  P. Waddell.  UrbanSim: Modeling Urban Development for Land Use, Transportation, and Environmental Planning , 2002 .

[105]  E. Hertwich,et al.  Carbon footprint of nations: a global, trade-linked analysis. , 2009, Environmental science & technology.

[106]  Ray Quay,et al.  Visualization of Sustainability Indicators: A Conceptual Framework , 2009 .

[107]  S. Guhathakurta.  Urban Modeling as Storytelling: Using Simulation Models as a Narrative , 2002 .

[108]  C. Kennedy,et al.  Comparing High and Low Residential Density: Life-Cycle Analysis of Energy Use and Greenhouse Gas Emissions , 2006 .

[109]  The Kyoto Protocol and Sustainable Cities : The Potential Use of the Clean Development Mechanism in Structuring Cities for “ Carbon-Efficient ” Transport , 2006 .

[110]  Ben Shneiderman,et al.  Readings in information visualization - using vision to think , 1999 .

[111]  Joseph E. Aldy,et al.  Divergence in State-Level Per Capita Carbon Dioxide Emissions , 2006, Land Economics.

[112]  Randall Crane,et al.  The Influence of Urban Form on Travel: An Interpretive Review , 2000 .

[113]  Menno-Jan Kraak,et al.  Geovisualization illustrated , 2002 .

[114]  Padma Reddy,et al.  Visualization in Scientific Computing. , 1996 .

[115]  Benjamin Sovacool,et al.  Twelve metropolitan carbon footprints: A preliminary comparative global assessment , 2010 .

[116]  Marilyn A. Brown,et al.  The Residential Energy and Carbon Footprints of the 100 Largest U.S. Metropolitan Areas , 2008 .

[117]  M. Stone.  Continuum regression: Cross-validated sequentially constructed prediction embracing ordinary least s , 1990 .

[118]  René F. Reitsma,et al.  Information space regionalization using adaptive multiplicatively weighted Voronoi diagrams , 2004 .

[119]  H. Moll,et al.  Pursuing More Sustainable Consumption by Analyzing Household Metabolism in European Countries and Cities , 2005 .

[120]  Robert Cervero,et al.  Built environments and mode choice: toward a normative framework , 2002 .

[121]  I. Bart,et al.  Urban sprawl and climate change: A statistical exploration of cause and effect, with policy options for the EU , 2010 .

[122]  John C. Grundy,et al.  A 3D metaphor for software production visualization , 2003, Proceedings on Seventh International Conference on Information Visualization, 2003. IV 2003..

[123]  O. Söderström.  Paper Cities: Visual Thinking in Urban Planning , 1996 .

[124]  Chris Webster.  GIS and the Scientific Inputs to Urban Planning. Part 1: Description , 1992 .

[125]  S. Pachauri.  An analysis of cross-sectional variations in total household energy requirements in India using micro survey data , 2004 .

[126]  Andrew Jones,et al.  Modifiable neighbourhood units, zone design and residents' perceptions. , 2007, Health & place.

[127]  Wolfgang Böhm,et al.  A survey of curve and surface methods in CAGD , 1984, Comput. Aided Geom. Des..

[128]  T. O'riordan,et al.  Sustainability Indicators: Measuring the Immeasurable , 2000 .

[129]  Donald H. House,et al.  Continuous cartogram construction , 1998, Proceedings Visualization '98 (Cat. No.98CB36276).

[130]  A. MacEachren,et al.  Research Challenges in Geovisualization , 2001, KN - Journal of Cartography and Geographic Information.

[131]  Alison J. Gilbert,et al.  Criteria for sustainability in the development of indicators for sustainable development , 1996 .

[132]  J.R.E. Harger,et al.  Definition of indicators for environmentally sustainable development , 1996 .

[133]  Daniel A. Keim,et al.  CartoDraw: a fast algorithm for generating contiguous cartograms , 2004, IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics.

[134]  R. Flowerdew,et al.  Neighbourhood effects on health: does it matter where you draw the boundaries? , 2008, Social science & medicine.

[135]  Pietro Terna,et al.  How to build and use agent-based models in social science , 2000 .

[136]  Yu-hsin Tsai.  Quantifying Urban Form: Compactness versus 'Sprawl' , 2005 .

[137]  Amanda Sauer,et al.  Changing drivers. The Impact of Climate Change on Competitiveness and Value Creation in the Automotive Industry , 2003 .