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Research - Research Projects |
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Maryland
Baltimore Active Living Teens Study
Summary of the Project:
National Center for Smart Growth associates Carolyn Voorhees and Kelly Clifton have undertaken a study of out-of-school
physical activity levels of high school students. The key questions are how much social, personal, or phsyical aspects of the
students' environments impact their levels of physical activity. This study is important due to the growing number of overweight teens
and is based on the notion that part of this trend is due to reduced physical activity amongst adolescents. Participants are being recruited
from Baltimore Polytechnic High School and Western High School. More information on the
study can be found here.
Testing Associations Between Physical Activity and the Urban Built Environment
Summary of the Project:
In partnership with Dr. Daniel A. Rodriquez at the University of North Carolina, Kelly Clifton and a team of researchers
at the University of Maryland have begun a study to determine how the urban built environment influences
the amount and types of physical activity residents engage in. The study will take place in Montgomery County, Maryland
and will involve between eighty and ninety participants drawn from three distinct neighborhood types. The study participants
will be interviewed, given accelerometers, and asked to maintain a diary of their phsyical activities. In addition to determining
relative activity levels in different neighborhood types, the research will also address whether active individuals
seek out a built environment conducive to physical activity when deciding where to live. More information on the study can be found at
http://planningandactivity.unc.edu .
Pedestrian Safety Modeling
Summary of the Project:
With support from the Highway Safety Office of the Maryland State
Highway Administration, Center Affiliate Kelly Clifton and Research
Associate Jungyul Sohn lead a project to identify areas within Prince
George’s County, Md., and the City of Baltimore where pedestrians are
exposed to the highest risk of collision with vehicular traffic.
Like most communities around the country, both Prince George’s
County and the city of Baltimore have good information on where
pedestrian-vehicular conflict exist, but have much less information
regarding the actual pedestrian risk at these locations. To identify sites
of high pedestrian risks, the Center will develop pedestrian
transportation models that will produce forecasts of pedestrian traffic.
Maryland Smart Growth Report Card
Summary of the Project:
In a project closely related to the national demonstration project,
the Center is working with the Maryland Department of Planning to
develop indicators that will provide insights on the performance of the
state’s Smart Growth initiative. Measures of urban development capacity
will be included among the indicators, which will allow Maryland
jurisdictions to assess their progress in following their own land use
plans and their relative efficiency in managing growth. Funded by the
Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, the project represents an independent,
objective review of the progress made as a result of Maryland’s landmark
1997 Smart Growth program. In conjunction with this project, Dr Knaap
has been appointed by Governor Ehrlich to serve on a task force charged
with designing methods of development capacity analysis. Chaired by
Maryland Planning Secretary Audrey E. Scott, the task force is to issue
its first report in June 2004.
A Smart Step Forward
Summary of the Project:
Center Affiliate Kelly Clifton leads the Smart Step Forward project
funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
A Smart Step Forward campaign strives to produce more walkable
environments through changes to land use codes, implementation of
demonstration projects, and community support for physical changes
that produce a more walkable environment. By encouraging more
physical activity, A Smart Step Forward seeks to address serious public
health concerns such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, asthma and
obesity.
This project was launched in 2001 by the Governor’s Office of
Smart Growth and the Maryland Department of Health and Mental
Hygiene. In 2002, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation awarded a
$150,000 two-year grant to the National Center for Smart Growth at the
University of Maryland to create pilot projects in three Maryland communities. The Smart Step Forward project has identified the
communities of Bel Air in Harford County, College Park in Prince
George’s County, and Turner’s Station in Baltimore County, to serve as
demonstration projects to show the effects of revising local codes and
ordinances to create more walkable communities.
The project includes community surveys, audits of local zoning and
subdivision codes, public workshops and implementation projects.
These three case studies will illustrate the interaction between local
codes and walkability in each community, detailed efforts to improve the
codes in the three communities, and document project successes and
challenges overall. In addition to these case studies, the final report will
also contain a “tool-kit” that synthesizes the lessons learned from the
three case studies, thus making the information relevant and
transferable to different types of communities, from very walkable to very
automobile-dependent, within Maryland and throughout the nation.
For more information, contact:
Kelly J. Clifton, Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Assistant Professor in Urban Studies and Planning.
(301) 405-1945
kclifton@eng.umd.edu
Or, visit: www.smartstepforward.org
Trends in Maryland Housing Markets
Summary of the Project:
Dr. Knaap and Dr. Sohn worked with the Maryland National
Capital Building Industry Association and the Home Builders Association
of Maryland to conduct an analysis of housing trends in the Baltimore
and Washington corridor. The Center collected subdivision and rezoning
information from 15 of Maryland’s 23 counties.
The resulting report, Smart Growth, Housing Markets, and
Development Trends, published in November 2003, concluded that
constraints on development appear to be limiting the production of new
housing in Maryland, adversely affecting affordability in the Baltimore
and Washington suburbs, and deflecting growth to outlying counties.
The results of the study were presented by Dr. Knaap at a meeting
of the Maryland National Capital Building Industry Association and at
the Annual Growth Conference sponsored by the Home Builders
Association of Maryland. Dr. Sohn also presented results at the
meetings of the Regional Science Association in Philadelphia. Additional
presentations are scheduled for 2004.
For the full report, click here
