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Enhancing Walkability in a Downtown: a Case Study of Adel, Iowa

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Enhancing Walkability in a Downtown: a Case Study of Adel, Iowa Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Creative Components Dissertations Fall 2020 Enhancing Walkability in a Downtown: A Case Study of Adel, Iowa Yaw Kwarteng Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/creativecomponents Part of the Urban, Community and Regional Planning Commons Recommended Citation Kwarteng, Yaw, "Enhancing Walkability in a Downtown: A Case Study of Adel, Iowa" (2020). Creative Components. 656. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/creativecomponents/656 This Creative Component is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Creative Components by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Enhancing Walkability in a Downtown: A Case Study of Adel, Iowa by Yaw Yeboah Kwarteng A creative component submitted to the graduate faculty in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF COMMUNITY AND REGIONAL PLANNING Major: Community and Regional Planning Program of Study Committee: Monica Haddad, Major Professor Brian Gelder Sungduck Lee The student author, whose presentation of the scholarship herein was approved by the program of study committee, is solely responsible for the content of this creative component. The Graduate College will ensure this creative component is globally accessible and will not permit alterations after a degree is conferred. Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 2020 Copyright © Cy Cardinal, 2020. All rights reserved. ii DEDICATION This report is dedicated to my mum, Akosua Gyapomaa. Your love keeps me going. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF FIGURES .........................................................................................................................v LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................................ vii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ........................................................................................................... viii ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................... ix CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................1 CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW .........................................................................................5 Defining walkability .................................................................................................................. 5 Benefits of walkability ............................................................................................................... 7 Walk score for the city of Adel ................................................................................................. 9 Empirical studies about walkability and planning ................................................................... 10 Measuring walkability with GIS .............................................................................................. 12 CHAPTER 3. METHODOLOGY .................................................................................................19 My study area .......................................................................................................................... 19 My methodological steps ......................................................................................................... 26 Calculating the Index of Walkability ....................................................................................... 28 Land use mix ...................................................................................................................... 28 Connectivity Index ............................................................................................................. 29 Density................................................................................................................................ 31 Proximity ............................................................................................................................ 31 Streetscape Evaluation using GSV .......................................................................................... 33 CHAPTER 4. RESULTS AND FINDINGS ..................................................................................36 Measuring the Connectivity Index .......................................................................................... 36 Assessing Proximity of Land Uses .......................................................................................... 36 Measuring closest facilities (Current Land Use) ................................................................ 37 Measuring closest facilities (Future Land Use) .................................................................. 39 Land Use Mix .......................................................................................................................... 40 Measuring the Residential Density .......................................................................................... 41 Reclassification of Values of the Dimensions ......................................................................... 42 Creating the Walkability Index ................................................................................................ 43 Comparing Walkability Indices for Downtown Adel .............................................................. 44 Google Street View (GSV) Measures ..................................................................................... 46 CHAPTER 5. CONCLUSION.......................................................................................................53 Recommendations ................................................................................................................... 53 Limitations of the Study .......................................................................................................... 55 Final Remarks .......................................................................................................................... 55 iv REFERENCES ..............................................................................................................................58 APPENDIX A. FUTURE LAND USE MAP FOR THE CITY OF ADEL ..................................62 APPENDIX B. QUESTIONNAIRE FOR ASSESSING DOWNTOWN'S WALKABILITY USING GSV ..................................................................................................................................63 v LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure 1: Walk score for the city of Adel ..................................................................................... 10 Figure 2: Map of the State of Iowa and Dallas County ................................................................ 19 Figure 3: City of Adel ................................................................................................................... 20 Figure 4: Downtown Adel Boundary based on Adel Downtown Plan ......................................... 21 Figure 5: Current Land Use based on Adel’s Land Use Map ....................................................... 22 Figure 6: Current Land Use Map Aggregated .............................................................................. 23 Figure 7: Future Land Use based on Adel Downtown Plan ......................................................... 24 Figure 8: Future Land Use Aggregated ........................................................................................ 25 Figure 9: Alleyway Beautification Areas ..................................................................................... 26 Figure 10: Conceptual Framework ............................................................................................... 28 Figure 11: Street Links and Nodes................................................................................................ 30 Figure 12: Locations where Streetscapes were Examined using GSV ......................................... 34 Figure 13: Network Analysis (Current Land Use) ........................................................................ 38 Figure 14: Network Analyst (Future Land Use) ......................................................................... 40 Figure 15: Walkability Index for Downtown Adel ....................................................................... 43 Figure 16: Walkability Index with Alleyway Beautification Incorporated .................................. 46 Figure 17: Sidewalk Classification Criteria .................................................................................. 47 Figure 18: What are the conditions of the sidewalk from the observed location? ........................ 48 Figure 19: Can Two People Fit on the Sidewalk from the Observed Location? .......................... 48 Figure 20: Is Pedestrian Crossing available at the Observed Location? ....................................... 49 Figure 21: Streetscape Features in Downtown ............................................................................. 50 Figure 22: Examples of Streetscape Features ............................................................................... 51 vi Figure 23: Condition of Street Landscape .................................................................................... 52 Figure 24: Potential for Sidewalk
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