BACKGROUND Seventy-five percent of the population in Europe live in urban areas and analysing the effects of urban form on the health of the urban population is of great public health interest. Not much is known, however, on the effects of urban form on the health of city dwellers. This study uses a novel approach to investigate whether associations exist between different measures of urban for...

OBJECTIVES We examined whether access to retail sources of healthy and unhealthy food varies according to level of neighbourhood material deprivation in three Ontario regions and whether urban form characteristics help to explain any such variations. METHODS Food retail (FR) outlets were identified from a commercial database for 804 urban neighbourhoods in Toronto, Brampton/Mississauga and Ha...

There is a growing body of research concerned with the relationship between urban form and travel patterns. Studies originate from a diversity of sources, and encompass a variety of geographic scales and locations. To add to this diversity, many different characteristics of urban form to have been examined in these studies, and travel patterns have been measured in a number of different ways. T...

Land use planning is always officially implemented as an effective tool to control urban development and protect farmland. However, its impact on land use change remains untested in China. Using a case study of Hang-Jia-Hu region, the main objective of this paper was to investigate the influence of different land use spatial control schemes on farmland conversion and urban development. Comparis...

For over 50 years the U.S. has been shifting away hom small, neighborhood schools to larger schools in lower density areas. Rates of children walking and biking to school have declined significantly over this period. This study examines the relationship between urban form, distance, and middle school students walking and biking to and from four schools in Oregon. Five primary results emerge: (1...

Carbon emissions are closely related to global warming. More than 70% of carbon have been generated in cities. Many studies analyzed the effects cities on emissions, from perspective urbanization, economics, and land use, yet a detailed understanding relationship between urban form is lacking due absence reasonable set metrics. The aim this research explore through empirical research. By elimin...

The effects of Low Impact Development (LID) practices on urban runoff and pollutants have proven to be positive in many studies. However, the effectiveness of LID practices can vary depending on different urban patterns. In the present study, the performance of LID practices was explored under three land uses with different urban forms: (1) a compact high-density urban form; (2) a conventional ...

Many urban designers and researchers argue that walkable urban environments can encourage older residents' walking activities that benefit their physical health. However, walking also exposes older adults to safety risks, including due to traffic accidents. This study seeks to reveal the interactions between urban form and safety affecting urban baby boomers' walking behavior. Spatial analysis ...