IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/envirb/v38y2011i6p952-978.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Sprawl Retrofit: Sustainable Urban Form in Unsustainable Places

Author

Listed:
  • Emily Talen

    (School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning, School of Sustainability, Arizona State University, PO Box 875302, Tempe, AZ 85287-5302, USA)

Abstract

This paper makes a contribution to the suburban retrofit/sprawl repair literature by suggesting a method that planners can use to evaluate the potential of some places to be catalysts for an improved—more sustainable—urban form. The strategy is aimed at evaluating and then promoting sustainable urban form in unsustainable places. The method puts sprawl retrofit projects into a larger planning framework, suggesting ways to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of places in relative terms, taking into account how different kinds of nodes—from light rail stops to parking lots—varying with respect to sustainable urban form characteristics. Overlaying data on accessibility, density, diversity, and connectivity reveals areas with varying levels of sustainable urban form. Intervention in potential retrofit locations consists of neighborhood and site-scale design, including suggestions for code reform, intensification of land use around nodes, public investment in civic space, traffic calming, and incentives for private development.

Suggested Citation

  • Emily Talen, 2011. "Sprawl Retrofit: Sustainable Urban Form in Unsustainable Places," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 38(6), pages 952-978, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envirb:v:38:y:2011:i:6:p:952-978
    DOI: 10.1068/b37048
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1068/b37048
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1068/b37048?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Giles-Corti, B. & Donovan, R.J., 2003. "Relative Influences of Individual, Social Environmental, and Physical Environmental Correlates of Walking," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 93(9), pages 1583-1589.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Haoying Han & Noman Sahito & Thuy Van Thi Nguyen & Jinsoo Hwang & Muhammad Asif, 2019. "Exploring the Features of Sustainable Urban Form and the Factors that Provoke Shoppers towards Shopping Malls," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(17), pages 1-20, September.
    2. Anna D’Auria & Marco Tregua & Manuel Carlos Vallejo-Martos, 2018. "Modern Conceptions of Cities as Smart and Sustainable and Their Commonalities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-18, July.
    3. Stefano Bracco & Federico Delfino & Paola Laiolo & Andrea Morini, 2018. "Planning & Open-Air Demonstrating Smart City Sustainable Districts," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-14, December.
    4. Qi Zhang & Esther Hiu Kwan Yung & Edwin Hon Wan Chan, 2018. "Towards Sustainable Neighborhoods: Challenges and Opportunities for Neighborhood Planning in Transitional Urban China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-23, February.
    5. Scoppa, Martin & Bawazir, Khawla & Alawadi, Khaled, 2019. "Straddling boundaries in superblock cities. Assessing local and global network connectivity using cases from Abu Dhabi, UAE," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 770-782.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bettina Bringolf-Isler & Christian Schindler & Kees Hoogh & Bengt Kayser & L. Suzanne Suggs & Alain Dössegger & Nicole Probst-Hensch, 2019. "Association of objectively measured and perceived environment with accelerometer-based physical activity and cycling: a Swiss population-based cross-sectional study of children," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 64(4), pages 499-510, May.
    2. McNeill, Lorna Haughton & Kreuter, Matthew W. & Subramanian, S.V., 2006. "Social Environment and Physical activity: A review of concepts and evidence," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(4), pages 1011-1022, August.
    3. Grazia Salvo & Bonnie M. Lashewicz & Patricia K. Doyle-Baker & Gavin R. McCormack, 2018. "Neighbourhood Built Environment Influences on Physical Activity among Adults: A Systematized Review of Qualitative Evidence," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-21, May.
    4. Bentley, Rebecca & Jolley, Damien & Kavanagh, Anne Marie, 2010. "Local environments as determinants of walking in Melbourne, Australia," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 70(11), pages 1806-1815, June.
    5. McDonald, Noreen C., 2005. "Children’s Travel: Patterns and Influences," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt51c9m01c, University of California Transportation Center.
    6. Fiorillo, Damiano & Sabatini, Fabio, 2015. "Structural social capital and health in Italy," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 17(C), pages 129-142.
    7. Seyed Mehdi Moeini, 2012. "Attitudes to Urban Walking in Tehran," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 39(2), pages 344-359, April.
    8. Courtemanche, Charles & Carden, Art, 2011. "Supersizing supercenters? The impact of Walmart Supercenters on body mass index and obesity," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(2), pages 165-181, March.
    9. Cohen, Deborah A. & Finch, Brian K. & Bower, Aimee & Sastry, Narayan, 2006. "Collective efficacy and obesity: The potential influence of social factors on health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(3), pages 769-778, February.
    10. Feuillet, T. & Commenges, H. & Menai, M. & Salze, P. & Perchoux, C. & Reuillon, R. & Kesse-Guyot, E. & Enaux, C. & Nazare, J.-A. & Hercberg, S. & Simon, C. & Charreire, H. & Oppert, J.M., 2018. "A massive geographically weighted regression model of walking-environment relationships," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 118-129.
    11. McMillan, Tracy E., 2007. "The relative influence of urban form on a child's travel mode to school," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 69-79, January.
    12. Cui, Yuchen & Mishra, Sabyasachee & Welch, Timothy F., 2014. "Land use effects on bicycle ridership: a framework for state planning agencies," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 220-228.
    13. repec:asg:wpaper:1031 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Giles-Corti, Billie & Bull, Fiona & Knuiman, Matthew & McCormack, Gavin & Van Niel, Kimberly & Timperio, Anna & Christian, Hayley & Foster, Sarah & Divitini, Mark & Middleton, Nick & Boruff, Bryan, 2013. "The influence of urban design on neighbourhood walking following residential relocation: Longitudinal results from the RESIDE study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 20-30.
    15. Sharon Levi & Orna Baron-Epel & Riki Tesler & Yossi Harel-Fisch, 2022. "Patterns of Active Travel and Physical Activity among Adolescents in Israel," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-14, October.
    16. K. Meghan Wieters, 2016. "Advantages of Online Methods in Planning Research," SAGE Open, , vol. 6(3), pages 21582440166, July.
    17. Nicoleta Cutumisu & John C. Spence, 2012. "Sport Fields as Potential Catalysts for Physical Activity in the Neighbourhood," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-21, January.
    18. Ehmke, Mariah D. & Willson, Tina M. & Schroeter, Christiane & Hart, Ann Marie & Coupal, Roger H., 2009. "Obesity Economics for the Western United States," Western Economics Forum, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 8(2), pages 1-13.
    19. Anna Wilczyńska & Gloria Niin & Peeter Vassiljev & Izabela Myszka & Simon Bell, 2023. "Perceptions and Patterns of Use of Blue Spaces in Selected European Cities: Tartu, Tallinn, Barcelona, Warsaw and Plymouth," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-30, April.
    20. Fiorillo, Damiano & Sabatini, Fabio, 2011. "Quality and quantity: The role of social interactions in self-reported individual health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 73(11), pages 1644-1652.
    21. Cummins, Steven & Curtis, Sarah & Diez-Roux, Ana V. & Macintyre, Sally, 2007. "Understanding and representing 'place' in health research: A relational approach," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 65(9), pages 1825-1838, November.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:envirb:v:38:y:2011:i:6:p:952-978. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.