On Order
Summary
Summary
What makes strolling down a particular street enjoyable? The authors of Measuring Urban Design argue it's not an idle question. Inviting streets are the centerpiece of thriving, sustainable communities, but it can be difficult to pinpoint the precise design elements that make an area appealing. This accessible guide removes the mystery, providing clear methods to measure urban design.
In recent years, many "walking audit instruments" have been developed to measure qualities like building height, block length, and sidewalk width. But while easily quantifiable, these physical features do not fully capture the experience of walking down a street. In contrast, this book addresses broad perceptions of street environments. It provides operational definitions and measurement protocols of five intangible qualities of urban design, specifically imageability, visual enclosure, human scale, transparency, and complexity.
The result is a reliable field survey instrument grounded in constructs from architecture, urban design, and planning. Readers will also find a case study applying the instrument to 588 streets in New York City, which shows that it can be used effectively to measure the built environment's impact on social, psychological, and physical well-being. Finally, readers will find illustrated, step-by-step instructions to use the instrument and a scoring sheet for easy calculation of urban design quality scores.
For the first time, researchers, designers, planners, and lay people have an empirically tested tool to measure those elusive qualities that make us want to take a stroll. Urban policymakers and planners as well as students in urban policy, design, and environmental health will find the tools and methods in Measuring Urban Design especially useful.
Author Notes
Reid Ewing is Professor of City and Metropolitan Planning at the University of Utah and the author of Pedestrian- and Transit-Oriented Design. He is coeditor, with Arthur C. Nelson, of the Island Press Metropolitan Planning + Design series.
Otto Clement is a senior transportation planner in the Washington, DC region.
Reviews 1
Choice Review
Ewing (Univ. of Utah) and transportation planner Clemente describe a rigorous, multi-university, collaborative effort to develop a quantitative measure of the physical qualities that enhance an urban area's walkability. After a brief but useful review of urban design theory, the book describes the process of developing a "field manual" to instruct observers in how to canvas and count elements deemed to be predictors of successful urban form. This process began with experts categorizing filmed urban scenes, which were then analyzed for selected visual content. Statistical analysis of this work revealed 27 visual elements that could be used as signifiers of positive urban scenes. Pilot testing revealed strengths and weaknesses in the proposed measures. The authors hope that the measures will be refined and have wide-scale application. This book will be valuable to those interested in the process--and particularly the pitfalls--of developing numerical measures of the urban condition. However, anyone interested in how it might feel to walk through a great city are best advised to look elsewhere. In the process of trying to devise a precise and universal measure of urban quality, the authors appear to have lost touch with the circumstantial richness of the places they hope to celebrate. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students and above. D. Sachs Kansas State University
Table of Contents
| Acknowledgments | p. ix |
| 1 Introduction | p. 1 |
| Why You Should Read This Book | p. 3 |
| Initial Screening of Qualities | p. 3 |
| Map of the Book | p. 22 |
| 2 Data Collection | p. 25 |
| Expert Panel | p. 25 |
| Videotaping | p. 26 |
| Library of Video Clips and Sample | p. 28 |
| Visual Assessment Survey | p. 31 |
| 3 Analysis and Final Steps | p. 35 |
| Walkability in Relation to Urban Design Qualities | p. 35 |
| Inter-Rater Reliability of Scene Ratings | p. 37 |
| Analyzing the Content of Sampled Scenes | p. 38 |
| Inter-Rater Reliability of Content Analysis | p. 39 |
| Urban Design Ratings in Relation to Physical Features | p. 39 |
| Cross-Classified Random Effects Models | p. 43 |
| Results of Statistical Analysis | p. 46 |
| Final Steps | p. 54 |
| 4 Urban Design Qualities for New York City | p. 63 |
| Background | p. 64 |
| Neighborhood Characteristics and Urban Design | p. 65 |
| Methods | p. 68 |
| Results | p. 72 |
| New Strategies for Measuring Urban Design | p. 78 |
| Conclusions | p. 81 |
| 5 Validation of Measures | p. 83 |
| Data | p. 83 |
| Measures | p. 84 |
| D Variables | p. 88 |
| Analysis | p. 91 |
| Results | p. 93 |
| Discussion | p. 96 |
| 6 Field Manual | p. 99 |
| Getting Started | p. 99 |
| Urban Design Quality Definitions | p. 102 |
| Measurement Instructions | p. 104 |
| Appendix 1 Biosketches of Expert Panel Members | p. 137 |
| Appendix 2 Operational Definitions of Physical Features | p. 140 |
| Appendix 3 Urban Design Qualities and Physical Features | p. 158 |
| Appendix 4 Scoring Sheet Measuring Urban Design Qualities | p. 163 |
| References | p. 167 |
| Index | p. 175 |
