Residents’ preferences for walkable neighbourhoods

The ‘walkable neighbourhood’ is promoted by planners and designers as a normative goal yet resident responses to this environment, the ultimate occupants of these settings, remain unclear. Completing focus groups with 11 diverse residents’ groups, a critically understudied politically engaged population which often seeks to shape planning practice, this paper unpacks residents’ environmental preferences and examines their relationship to neighbourhood attributes commonly associated with walking. Five dominant preferences relating to local amenities, social interaction, noise, greenspace and density were identified. Positive interactions between these and the considered attributes suggest that groups might find much to like in the walkable neighbourhood. The implications for delivering walkable neighbourhoods are considered.     

Assessing landscape preferences: a visual choice experiment in the agricultural region of Märkische Schweiz,Germany

Natural amenities and the aesthetic value of agricultural landscapes are important territorial assets for improving rural tourism and the quality of the living environment. To identify which characteristics shape the visual quality of a landscape, a stated-preference survey was conducted (N = 200) using photorealistic landscape visualisations of four different landscape attributes (point green elements, linear green elements, crop diversity and presence of livestock). We estimated respondents’ preferences for landscape attributes, examined the extent of agreement among respondents and identified socio-economic factors influencing their responses. Results revealed that point elements had the highest general preference. About 70% of respondents preferred diverse and highly structured landscapes, while about 30% of respondents had opposing preferences. Preferences were also found to be dependent on the individual’s sociocultural background, such as their level of education, gender or age. These results can help to improve the multi-objective targeting of policies by including an aesthetic value perspective.     

Exploring preference homogeneity and heterogeneity for proximity to urban public services

Given that the majority of the world's population lives in urban places, the quality of the urban environment has emerged as an issue of fundamental concern for citizens, academic researchers, and policy makers. This study explores residents' preferences and valuation of living in proximity to urban amenities in the built environment. The study demonstrates that environmental evaluation techniques can be used as a tool to help relevant decision makers (e.g., urban managers, developers, city officials, planners, realtors and researchers) with policy making, effective decision making and efficient city management procedures. The models indicate how household preference for proximity to urban amenities change as a function of the cost of provision as exemplified by a change (increase or decrease) in annual property tax. The study reports the results for two different models: one which assumes preference homogeneity and the other preference heterogeneity in the sampled population. The results show that older residents and higher educated people are more likely to be willing to pay a higher property tax for having proximity to parks. Middle and low income residents prefer close proximity to bus stops and local shopping centres. This research suggests that a win-win strategy for residents and local government lies in increasing and maintaining residents' accessibility to urban amenities, and in increasing an urban area's sustainability.     

Evaluation of fitness of design in urban historical context: From the perspectives of residents

Historic city cores in many countries either fell into neglect or suffered from harmful developments. Due to a variety of reasons, conservation projects failed to preserve socio– cultural assets of historic environments. One of these reasons is that experts who involve in the development of historical context completely disregard the communities in such historic areas or their inhabitants. This paper looks into residents’ preferences on infill design projects as part of urban development in historical contexts. It aims to investigate preference ratings of those residents who live in urban historical context in terms of the quality of new infill design and its relationship to the historical surroundings. This research attempts to evaluate the best design strategies from the point view of the residents as well as the effects of cognitive properties on their preferences. Methodologically, a case study approach was adopted with 204 residents as participants in this survey. The contributive elements that are essential to the quality of fitness are identified through quantitative analysis. The findings of this research indicate that the most preferred design strategies are “Literal Replication” and “Invention within Style” from the perspective of the residents, who prefer, to a greater degree, new buildings in historical context replicating something from their surroundings. These findings are useful to experts and major organisations to conduct successful infill development, with consideration of the perceptions of the residents on the changes in their historical context.     

Differential community effects on perception and use of urban greenspaces

The social profiles of residential communities exert differential effects on expectations and demands on urban greenspaces. We studied the diversity of public perception towards urban greenspaces in compact urban Hong Kong. Random household samples were selected from four dominant residential communities: old-core public housing (OP), old-core residential (OR), suburban residential (SR), and new-town public housing (NP). They denote gradations in income, housing quality, physical and social milieu, and development age. Face-to-face interviews were conducted using a structured questionnaire. Residents’ attitude, visiting pattern, greenspace preference, and assessment of neighborhood quality were investigated. SR presented distinctive results in comparison with others. The moderate differences between the remaining three communities were mainly linked to local traits in park environs. OP more emphasized the function of communal places for neighborly interactions associated with better social relationship of an older population. Parks in OR were the more frequently visited, even though its residents were sensitive to the negative impacts of urban greenspaces, which was related to urban blight in the environs. SR respondents highly appreciated greenspaces as pleasant settings for family activities and aesthetic enjoyment. NP residents were less frequent visitors despite generous park provision, due to the youthful population, weak social cohesion, and limited integration of new migrants. Community quality factors such as neighborhood relationship and urban density influenced the perception. Social qualities were more important than the physical aspects of parks in influencing visitorship. The findings suggest future research to deepen understanding of public perception towards urban greenspaces to inform park design.     

Inventing what Millennials want downtown: housing the urban generation in low-density metropolitan regions

ABSTRACT

Evidence is growing that a large subset of U.S. Millennials prefers to live in walkable communities near amenities. Yet, we know relatively little about how developers are translating Millennial preferences into “sticks and bricks.” This research helps fill the gap by exploring how real estate developers are cementing Millennial preferences into housing developments located downtown in the low-density metropolitan regions of Phoenix and Houston. Using data from the U.S. Census, regional media, and expert interviews, we find that developers perceive Millennials as needing housing that is authentic, flexible, socially conscious, and provides an inside/out, constantly connected lifestyle. These developers have incorporated these perceptions into new downtown projects through innovative building design and site selection, which has generated more urban housing options in the Phoenix and Houston regions, while also raising concerns about regulatory threats, Millennials’ ability (and desire) to age in place, and social equity.     

Do “creative” and “non-creative” workers exhibit similar preferences for urban amenities? An exploratory case study of Omaha,Nebraska

Research into the locational decisions of creative class or knowledge workers has indicated that “classic” or “hard” factors, particularly employment opportunity and social connections, generally take precedence over “soft”, “quality of place” amenities such as art and cultural venues, historical assets, and tolerance/diversity. However, “soft” amenities are expected to shape where creative class/knowledge workers live within cities, and potentially whether they remain in the community long-term, or seek opportunities elsewhere. In this study, an online survey and questionnaire were employed to explore whether residents living in downtown Omaha, Nebraska with “creative” occupations exhibit stronger preferences for urban amenities relative to those with “non-creative” occupations. Generally in support of Richard Florida’s creative class thesis, the results suggest that creative workers may exhibit a stronger affinity for certain, primarily “soft,” urban amenities and characteristics, such as dining establishments, “third places”, arts/cultural venues, unique sense of place, and the hip, trendy, and youthful feel of Omaha’s downtown neighborhoods.     

Urban,suburban or rural? Understanding preferences for the residential environment

ABSTRACT

There are two ongoing trends that lead to changing preferences for the built environment. One concerns a demographic transition into more but smaller, and older, households. The other concerns greater possibilities to satisfy residential preferences due to rising incomes and technological advances. The current study explores the preference for the type of residential environment and the underlying motivations. The smaller municipality is most preferred (36%), followed by the city edge (32%), a rural area (13%), the city centre (11%) and no preference (7%). The city centre is preferred because of amenities, ambiance, liveliness and activities. The city edge is preferred because of peace and quiet and easy access to the dwelling. Social contact was rarely mentioned. In contrast, respondents who preferred a smaller municipality frequently mentioned social contact. Furthermore, feeling safe/secure and wellbeing were important items. Finally, respondents with a rural preference mentioned freedom and peace and quiet.     

Prospects for walkable, mixed-income neighborhoods: insights from U.S. developers

In the U.S. today, there is a significant danger that walkable communities are becoming unaffordable to low and even moderate-income residents. This paper reports on the results of a survey of affordable housing developers that was conducted to provide a better understanding of what kinds of strategies could be used to substantially increase the prevalence of walkable, mixed-income neighborhoods from the point of view of developers. Thirty-four developers from around the U.S. were interviewed by telephone in November and December, 2010. Five themes emerged from the survey: the need for financing and access to capital and subsidy; the need for reform of financial regulation; the need for reform of land use regulation; the need for incentives; and the need for better communication and networking. Responses to the survey underscored the frustrations affordable housing developers are having with development more generally, and how those frustrations are amplified when trying to locate affordable housing in walkable, mixed-income neighborhoods. The paper concludes by suggesting strategies that could be employed to help promote walkable, mixed-income neighborhoods, beyond the obvious need for better access to capital: support for research that focuses on the benefits of mixed-income neighborhoods; documentation and illumination of best practices; and the fostering of communication and partnerships among a diverse set of advocates.     

Impacts of transit and walking amenities on robust local knowledge economy

As of 2013, knowledge economy has held more than 10% of U.S. employment, generated nearly 20% of national GDP and expect to increase to 25% during the next 20 years. Likewise, Eurostat 2020 aims to increase investment in Knowledge Intensive Business Services (KIBS) to bypass the competitors, Japan and the U.S. As the result, investigating the determinants of robust knowledge economy is a continuing concern between city scholars, planners and leaders. To date, several locational and non-locational factors have been found to be influential. For instance, transit service, walkable street networks and dense neighborhoods that provide walkable access to urban amenities are the location preferences for the creative class. Creative class, in turn, attracts KIBS, and produces innovation which are all contributive to the knowledge-based economic vitality. While such trend is widely supported by the theoretical efforts, there is little empirical evidence on these complex multidimensional relationships and hence this study seeks to investigate both direct and indirect impacts of transit and walking amenities on the robust local knowledge economy. Using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), we developed a comprehensive model that accounts for KIBS, creative economy and innovation productivity and investigates their locational and non-locational determinants with the particular focus on walking and transit amenities. Our results generally echo the findings of previous studies about the key role of industry clustering, place quality amenities, diversity and tolerance on the three drivers of robust local knowledge economy. We found that among all exogenous variables racial diversity and industry clustering have the most significant direct effect on innovation productivity. We also found that transit service quality and walkability contribute to a robust local knowledge economy through KIBS and creative class, but they have an adverse relationship to the innovation production of the STEM small firms. This might be due to the fact that walkability and transit access increase the property values and, therefore, make them unaffordable for small innovative firms. Our findings on the impacts of walkability and transit access on innovation productivity in vulnerable small firms call for attention to the equity aspects of innovation-supportive urban developments.     

What women want: single older women and their housing preferences

It is increasingly recognized in Australia that single, older women are particularly vulnerable to housing-related stress and homelessness. This paper reports on a qualitative study that explored the housing experiences of single, older, non-homeowning women in regional New South Wales, Australia. Interviews were conducted with 47 participants living independently in precarious housing. This paper focuses upon the housing preferences expressed by the participants. A feminist standpoint perspective was adopted and thematic analysis was employed to interrogate the data. Findings showed the women’s primary preference is security of tenure in housing that is affordable and suited to their needs. Further, they want to feel they have autonomy in the private sphere. Over the participants’ life course, twin discourses of patriarchy and neoliberalism were identified as influential in shaping social arrangements, both in Australia and other developed countries. These findings may assist policy-makers in planning future housing for this ageing cohort.     

Traditional Urbanism Meets Residential Affluence: An Analysis of the Variability of Suburban Preference

This article evaluates the likelihood that wealthy suburban residents in the U.S. would endorse the ideas currently being promulgated by advocates of traditional urbanism. The results of an attitudinal survey of 185 affluent, mostly White residents of a suburb 25 miles north of Dallas, Texas, are reported. Four hypotheses were developed and used to assess what aspects of residential preference may be linked to an acceptance of traditional urban-ism concepts. The findings indicate that residents are very attached to their neighborhood and are unlikely to accept criticisms of their suburban lifestyle. Further, agreement with traditional urbanism concepts was associated with a perceived failure of the physical planning aspects of suburban development such as access to services. The conclusion is that in general, affluent suburban residents are likely to base any disfavor with suburban living on factors that affect them in very practical ways and not on a lack of community sentiment or a sense of the social or environmental weaknesses of suburban development. The findings also support the view that residential preferences are not inflexible and are sometimes even contradictory. This adaptability suggests that education about the impacts of development may be warranted.     

Exploring public preferences for traditional farming landscapes

Given that an increasing share of budgetary resources are now being spent on measures aimed at protecting the visual quality of agricultural landscapes it will be important to better understand individuals’ landscape preferences and the factors that influence those preferences. Within this context, using a nationally representive survey of Irish residents, the central aim of this study was to gain more insight into people's preferences regarding traditional farming landscapes. Individuals rated agricultural landscapes in terms of beauty quite highly but given a choice prefer traditional more extensive farming landscapes over more modern intensive farming landscapes. Moreover, the results suggest that there are systematic differences in preferences for traditional farm landscapes between different demographic groupings and also depending on individuals’ environmental value orientations. Accordingly, in studying preferences for agricultural landscapes in particular areas it will be necessary to consider the social and demographic characteristics of the population as well as the physical aspects of the landscape.     

New wilderness in the Netherlands: An investigation of visual preferences for nature development landscapes

The present research investigated visual preferences for nature development landscapes among 500 residents from six plan areas in The Netherlands. Significant differences in relative preferences for wild versus managed scenes were found between landscape types and respondent groups. Development of wild nature was evaluated less positively in a forested area than in more open, rural areas. Among the background variables included in the study, place of residence, age, socio-economic status, farming background, preference for green political parties, and recreational motives were found to be systematically related to relative preferences for wild versus managed nature scenes, accounting for 16% of the variance in preference ratings. These findings are discussed within an applied decision making context in The Netherlands.     

The role of emotions on tourists’ willingness to pay for the Alpine landscape: a latent class approach

Previous research suggests that landscape preferences vary systematically amongst people. While various sources of heterogeneity have been considered in landscape preference literature, the role of emotions on willingness to pay for landscape features has never been examined. This article presents results of a choice experiment carried out for eliciting tourists’ for Alpine landscapes. The emotional state of respondents was used to model heterogeneity in a latent class approach. The study area is a valley in the Italian Alps, characterised by a strong importance of the primary sector and a low number of tourists. Landscape management could attract new visitors, providing additional income for the local inhabitants. Results indicate that respondents prefer a variegated and multi-faceted landscape, with a mix of tree species, several agricultural crops and open areas with grazing animals and that incidental emotions play a role in the construction of landscape preferences and influence willingness to pay.     

Beyond stated and revealed preferences: the relationship between residential preferences and housing choices in the urban region of Turku, Finland

The deconcentration of urban population is a widespread phenomenon in Western societies. Whatever the reasons for residential deconcentration, an inevitable consequence is that an increasing number of people will choose to reside on the outskirts of urban regions. In this paper, the relationship between residential preferences and housing choices is examined using questionnaire data from 1,137 residents of the Turku urban region. This study examines how congruent their stated and revealed residential preferences are in the urban region and to what extent residential preferences affect residential mobility within the urban region. The results show that the stated residential preferences of the respondents correspond closely with their housing choices but the relation of residential preferences to changing population distribution is not straightforward. Although preference for low-density housing is the most important factor describing population decentralisation, the population flow towards the central city is predominantly determined by demographic factors. The results emphasise the latent nature of residential preferences, as the preferred residential environment does not necessarily correspond with the chosen housing. The results stress the importance of gaining thorough knowledge of the subjective values given to housing in order to understand what aspects of housing are important for people and what kind of influence residential preferences actually have on housing choices.     

中国城市老旧社区非正式绿地改造及其公众感知研究

Existing large-scale urban green spaces in a low distribution density can hardly meet citizens’ diverse and growing needs for convenient access and sharing modes, especially to those living in old communities. Compared with formal green spaces, informal green space (IGS) is a new urban green infrastructure contributing to the city’s coconstruction, co-governance, and co-sharing. This study was conducted based on a typical old residential community in the historic city center of Beijing, namely Beitaipingzhuang Neighborhood, acquired residents’ opinions, evaluation, and willing to participate in IGS governance, and investigated their preference of IGS renovation, activity, and the positive / negative perception of IGS scenarios through virtual renovation proposals upon the real scenes. According to the survey result, most residents have been aware of the existing IGS in communities as well as the advantages and disadvantages, and shown their support to IGS cogovernance; residents’ preference of IGS renovation scenarios is significantly affected by environmental factors—residents prefer the green spaces with a higher plant richness, a larger crown size, and a more complete leisure facility system. Therefore, residents’ positive perception can be enhanced through enriching plant species, adjusting green space ratio, and introducing proper planting patterns and facility types. Finally, the authors put forward several research interests for following up so as to provide targeted guidelines for the optimization of urban living environment.     

Residential Experiences and the Culture of Suburbanization: A Case Study of Portuguese Homebuyers in Mississauga

This paper examines the housing experiences of immigrants to Canada through a survey of first-generation Portuguese homebuyers in Mississauga, a suburb of Toronto. The survey focused on the push/pull factors leading to their decision to live in the suburbs, their housing search strategies, and their use of services in Mississauga and in the initial area of Portuguese immigrant settlement in downtown Toronto. This study uses data from a questionnaire administered to 110 Portuguese homebuyers in 1990, shortly after their first move to suburban Mississauga; a sample of those respondents were re-interviewed in 2003. The evidence indicates that these immigrants were ‘pulled’ into relocating to Mississauga because of their desire to live in a single-family dwelling in a good neighbourhood. Their housing search relied extensively on ethnic sources of information, particularly Portuguese real estate agents. In general, this group of immigrants expressed satisfaction with their move. The Portuguese community in Mississauga is characterized by a form of voluntary segregation, which seems to be partly a result of their reliance on their own ethnic community for information, language barriers to participating in non-Portuguese activities, and a cultural preference for living near people of the same ethnic background. One consequence of this re-segregation process, by which Portuguese people recreate a Portuguese ‘homeland’ in the suburbs, has been the limitation of their social contacts with members of other ethnic communities that have also settled in suburban Mississauga.     

QUALITY OF LIFE AMENITIES AS CONTRIBUTORS TO LOCAL ECONOMIES: VIEWS OF CITY MANAGERS

Is the level of importance attached to quality of life amenities, such as parks and restaurants, influenced by the objectives of the economic development strategy developed by city leaders? This research question drives the analysis presented in this article. We consider municipal leaders’ views of community amenities and how these opinions are influenced by the desire to either create jobs for community residents or generate greater municipal revenue. We evaluate the expectation that the need to generate city revenue will exert the greatest influence on the perceived importance of community amenities. Findings are generated using original survey data from city managers of 133 Texas cities. The results confirm expectations that city managers view quality of life amenities as more efficacious in contributing to revenue generation than job creation. The impact of these findings for the understanding of how city managers promote certain economic development strategies is discussed.     

人口老龄化背景下的社区公园活动空间和游憩设施配置 上海实例研究

社区公园是就近服务城市居民日常游憩的公园绿地。随着中国城市快速步入老龄化,居民的日常游憩需求日趋增长,但针对性的社区公园游憩服务体系尚未构建。选取城市化、老龄化程度均较高的上海为案例城市,通过对其社区性使用的公园的取样调研,剖析上海社区性使用的公园内活动空间构成和游憩设施配置的现状问题、以及不同年龄层次使用人群对公园内活动空间和游憩设施的需求与偏好,以指导老龄化街道社区公园游憩服务体系的构建和完善。