Master’s Defense for Travis Smiley

Friday December 16th, 10:00 am – 12:00 pm in Student Commons Building 4017

Title: The Effects Of Urban Form On Accessibility

Committee: Dr. Emily Speakman (Chair, Advisor), Dr. Tom Logan, and Dr. Joshua French

Abstract: Throughout recent decades, humanity has been experiencing rapid urban growth. In connection with climate concerns, this rapid urban growth has led experts to think more intentionally about how cities are built. For example, the concept of an x-minute city has fast become a widespread goal in the field of urban planning. A city is designated as an x-minute city if all desired amenities can be reached by each citizen within x-minutes of travel. This type of urban design prioritizes accessibility while having many benefits including improved public health [Celis17, Lindsay11, Stevenson16, Mueller20, Staricco22], improved quality of life [Leyden03, Lopez11], reductions in emissions [Brand21, Iea20], and community resilience against hardship through improved social cohesion [Dempsey11, Jacobs61, Hao22, Logan21, Anderson22, Sajjad21]. While becoming an x-minute city is a valuable goal in its own right, it is crucial that cities seeking to make this shift also focus on how to make the transition equitable. A key to success in this is careful consideration of the community's urban form, i.e., the physical characteristics that make up the given urban area, and a proper understanding of how these features impact the accessibility of a city. To help with this insight, in this paper, We utilize a variety of statistical models to evaluate the association between urban form and accessibility. We also draw conclusions regarding the predictive ability of urban form measures on accessibility.