walkable, traffic calming, pedestrian-friendly, automobile-dominated environment
In addition to increasing the sustainability of the community, improving the pedestrian environment in University City can help in creating a more sustainable San Diego. San Diego has experienced much sprawl and, all the suburban communities such as Mira Mesa and Rancho Bernardo are a visible proof of this argument. Both, Mira Mesa and Rancho Bernardo are perfect examples of the typical post World War II developed communities. These two neighborhoods, which aren’t very far from University City, have very low-densities and have very segregated land uses. Automobile-dependency in these is almost inevitable because of the great distances between the different land uses. Unlike these two communities, University City already has some characteristics that make the community much more sustainable, thus improving the pedestrian environment in this community can further promote a healthy environment. This study’s main goal is to reduce automobile dependency and encourage more non-motorized traffic.
Beatley, Timothy and Stephen Wheeler. The Sustainable Urban Development
Reader. NewYork: Routledge, 2004.
Boarnet, Marlon G, and Compin, Nicholas S. “Transit-Oriented Development in San Diego County.” Journal of the American Planning Association
Jacobs, Jane. The Death and Life of Great American Cities
Pacione, Michael. The City: Land Use, Structure and Change in the Western City
Register, Richard. Ecocities: Rebuildings Cities in Balance With Nature
Schwab, David. 2008. Commission Approves Revamp of UTC Mall. La Jolla Light
The Sierra Club, 1999, ``The dark side of the American Dream: the costs and consequences of
suburban sprawl’‘
Recent findings suggest that much poorly regulated urban development has had a negative impact on our natural environment. Cities have seen great sprawling and communities in these sprawled lands such as University City rely on private vehicles. This over-dependency is not environmentally friendly and thus creating a pedestrian-friendly and transit oriented University City is necessary in order to contribute to the holistic sustainability of the San Diego region. The implementation of sustainable practices is made possible by the already existing high-density housing and the different land uses within the community. This study will look at various case studies taken from scholarly articles discussing the practices that have been implemented elsewhere. For example, The Florida Department of Transportation has guided its sustainable development following guidelines drafted by the Smart Growth Network. In addition, interviews with local community members will be conducted and data collected from the United States Census Bureau and SANDAG will be analyzed to further see the attributes of the community that promote or hinder sustainable practices.
This study researches ways to promote sustainability in University City by improving the pedestrian environment. Throughout much of the Twentieth Century cities across the United States experienced much outward expansion catalyzed by the advent of the automobile, and the urban form of many cities, including that of San Diego, changed dramatically from compact-sized pedestrian-oriented towns to large metropolises. Communities, such as University City, in these metropolises became dominated by automobiles and lost many pedestrian-scaled characteristics. Although University City benefits from sustainable characteristics such as high-density residential and commercial buildings and mixed-land uses, community planners need to improve the pedestrian environment in order to promote more walking and thus reduce automobile usage. Research conducted in this study includes analysis scholarly articles, the characteristics of population living in the community, as well as interviews with community residents and field observations. The findings suggested that the most suitable sustainable practices that will help promote walkability in University City are the narrowing of the arterial streets, the widening of sidewalks and the introduction of more traffic calming elements.
University City, situated less than twenty minutes north of Downtown San Diego, benefits from several characteristics that make this community more sustainable than other developments built after the advent of the automobile. The community benefits from high-density buildings, including residential apartment complexes as well as commercial buildings. In addition to high-densities, the community also has mixed-land use zoning regulations, which allow commercial and residential developments to exist within close proximity of each other. These characteristics of the built environment in University City are rare for post-World War II developments, which typically have low densities and segregated land uses (Pacione 2002). However, even with these more sustainable characteristics, like most post-World War II neighborhoods, University City is also in an automobile dominated environment. The research conducted in Implementing Sustainable Practices and Elements in University City: Creating a Pedestrian-Friendly Community seeks to improve pedestrian mobility in University City and reduce automobile dependency in order to increase the sustainability of the community and contribute to the overall sustainability of the greater San Diego region. The findings suggested that the most suitable sustainable practices that will help promote walkability in University City are the narrowing of the arterial streets, the widening of sidewalks and the introduction of more traffic calming elements. The implementation of these practices in the community will discourage automobile usage and instead promote a safer and more welcoming pedestrian environment.
In this study, I have looked at several case studies in order to determine what can potentially work best for University City. To begin with, I decided that researching the characteristics of the community was important. For that reason, I analyzed the age of the population living in University City using data provided by SANDAG. Performing on-site field observations have allowed me to personally see ways in which to improve the pedestrian environment. In addition to the fieldwork, I also approached community residents with a survey, which questioned them about the pedestrian environment in their community. With these research methods, I will better understand what can be done in University City to create a pedestrian-friendly community.
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