Factors influencing the temporal diffusion of broadband adoption: evidence from Oklahoma

This paper examines the shifting influence of household characteristics and telecommunications infrastructure on the residential broadband adoption decision for Oklahoma residents between 2003 and 2006. In particular, the spread of wired telecommunications infrastructure (namely cable Internet and Digital Subscriber Lines (DSL)) is examined, along with the effect that this diffusion has had on broadband access rates. The data indicates that the gap in broadband access rates between rural and urban areas has remained relatively constant over this period despite increased levels of cable and DSL throughout the state. In addition, an inter-temporal decomposition shows that the increasing levels of infrastructure are not the dominant cause of higher broadband rates over time. Instead, shifting returns to specific characteristics (namely income) are found to be the primary contributors.     

Modelling the spatial distribution of a threatened butterfly: Impacts of scale and statistical technique

This paper compares the performance of five modelling methods in the prediction of a species distribution, using a data set describing the distribution of the threatened clouded apollo butterfly (Parnassius mnemosyne) in south-west Finland. The five statistical techniques included were: generalized linear models (GLM), generalized additive models (GAM), classification tree analysis (CTA), neural networks (ANN) and multiple adaptive regression splines (MARS). The accuracy of the models was examined at three spatial resolutions (1, 25 and 100 ha) by area under the curve (AUC) and kappa statistics. All five modelling techniques had a relatively high discrimination capacity for the occurrence of clouded apollo. Classification tree analysis provided the least robust model performance. The differences between the other methods were small, although GAM and MARS provided marginally the best stability and performance. The most accurate models were developed for the resolutions of 1 ha (highest AUC values) and 25 ha (highest kappa values) and the least accurate models for the resolution of 100 ha. Our work shows that modern modelling techniques can provide useful forecasts of species distributions in unsurveyed parts of landscapes and provide valuable contributions to conservation and management planning. However, the success of applying the new modelling tools can be influenced by the choice of statistical technique and especially of spatial resolution. In conclusion, small changes in the spatial scale may result in a clear decrease in the model performance and thus caution should be exercised when implementing the models and their predictions in practice.     

The telecommunication infrastructure: A model for optimum voice-data coverage

Since voice and data services can greatly enhance the quality of life of people in rural areas, the expansion of the telecommunication infrastructure is one of the most important planning activities for governments especially in developing nations. This study presents an analytical tool for policy makers to evaluate various alternatives that expand telephone and Internet services to underserved and unserved remote areas. Based on Geographic Information System (GIS) datasets of existing infrastructures, a computer model is developed to generate Telecom-and-Internet access maps of a defined region. The map presents the least-cost plan to provide telephony and Internet services to a given percentage of population in a specified area. A remote area of Bangladesh is selected as a case study. Several scenarios are simulated in order to explore the possibility of extending the reach of telecommunication services to the last-mile customers, and to evaluate pilot projects as building blocks of a nationwide infrastructure.     

Spatial dimensions of the demand for homeownership. A Danish rural–urban perspective

This paper introduces the concept of “spatial location satisfaction” and examines its relation to the individual demand for homeownership. Based on a Danish questionnaire survey carried out in a rural study area (N = 1,000) and in an urban study area (N = 1,015), a tenure choice model was estimated relating spatial location satisfaction to homeownership, while adjusting for control variables. The spatial location satisfaction variable was constructed from two questionnaire items asking respondents to state their actual and preferred place of settlement given five location type options: large city, medium-sized city, small town, village, and “in the countryside”. As hypothesised, the study shows a strong association between spatial location satisfaction and the individual demand for homeownership. This association is robust across study areas. Spatial location satisfaction is highest in the rural study area and explains about 6% of the rural–urban difference in homeownership rates. The identification of a positive association between spatial location satisfaction and homeownership adds credibility to population surveys that measure the correspondence between actual and preferred location type. This, in turn, provides increased impetus to use such survey data as one of the tools in formulating regional planning policies.     

Smart Cities and Mobility: Does the Smartness of Australian Cities Lead to Sustainable Commuting Patterns?

ABSTRACT

Smart cities have become a popular concept because they have the potential to create a sustainable and livable urban future. Smart mobility forms an integral part of the smart city agenda. This paper investigates “smart mobility” from the angle of sustainable commuting practices in the context of smart cities. This paper studies a multivariate multiple regression model within a panel data framework and examines whether increasing access to broadband Internet connections leads to the choice of a sustainable commuting mode in Australian local government areas. In this case, access to the Internet is used as a proxy for determining urban smartness, and the use of different modes of transport including working at home is used to investigate sustainability in commuting behavior. The findings show that an increasing access to broadband Internet reduces the level of working from home, public transport use, and active transport use, but increases the use of private vehicles, perhaps to overcome the fragmentation of work activities the Internet creates. How to overcome the need for car-based travel for fragmented work activities while increasing smartness through the provisioning of broadband access should be a key smart city agenda for Australia to make its cities more sustainable.     

Broadband and knowledge intensive firm clusters: Essential link or auxiliary connection?

This study evaluates the relationship between the spatial distribution of broadband providers and the presence of knowledge intensive firm clusters in US counties. Results highlight this relationship is heterogeneous and localized. In some places, broadband appears to be an essential link that enables knowledge firms to strategically locate in lower cost counties and in close proximity to major knowledge centres. In other places, the availability of broadband Internet connections are unable the negative externalities associated with locations in more remote areas of the country. From a policy perspective, this suggests that broadband should be viewed as a key component, but not the only component, of comprehensive local economic development plans.     

Does rural broadband impact jobs and income? Evidence from spatial and first-differenced regressions

In order to better understand the association between broadband and jobs/income in non-metropolitan counties, this study conducts spatial and first-differenced regressions using recent data from the Federal Communications Commission and the National Broadband Map. The relationships between broadband adoption/availability and jobs/income in rural areas are analyzed after controlling for a host of potentially influential variables such as age, race, educational attainment, transportation infrastructure, and the presence of natural amenities. Results from spatial error models using 2011 data provide evidence that high levels of broadband adoption in non-metro counties are positively related to the number of firms and total employees in those counties. The first-differenced regressions use data from 2008 and 2011 to suggest that increases in broadband adoption levels are associated with increases in median household income and the percentage of non-farm proprietors in non-metro counties. Interestingly, simply obtaining increases in broadband availability (not adoption) over this time has no statistical impact on either jobs or income.     

Past and projected rural land conversion in the US at state,regional, and national levels

The developed land area of the US increased by 14.2 million hectares between 1982 and 2003. Along with a projected US population increase to more than 360 million individuals by 2030 is an expected continuation of expanding rural land development. Related to population growth, rural land development and the associated loss of rural open space are expected to have a number of social, economic, and ecological implications. To gain greater insight into land development patterns, we used US Census Bureau and National Resources Inventory data to quantify per-housing-unit rates of land development during recent decades and to model future land development to 2030 for states and regions in the US. Based on these data, 0.50 ha of additional land were developed for each additional housing unit in the US. The numbers of hectares of newly developed land per additional housing unit were greatest in the South Central and Great Plains regions and least in the Pacific Coast and Rocky Mountain regions of the country. Combining population projections and trends in people per housing unit with development indices, we projected that developed area in the US will increase by 22 million hectares between 2003 and 2030, with the greatest absolute increases projected to occur in the Southeast and South Central regions of the US. We used sensitivity analysis to examine the impacts of changes in population migration patterns and per housing unit development patterns on increases in projected developed area.     

Effect of housing condition on quality of life

This study examined the housing effect on quality of life among Japanese people. In the current cross-sectional study, we analyzed the 1-year of data (November 2015-March 2016) with 2533 participants. We used the Short Form-8 questionnaire, an 8-item instrument that measures general aspects of health-related QOL. Comprehensive Assessment System for Built Environment Efficiency housing checklist which was developed by Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism was used to assess the housing aspects. This checklist has six health elements including thermal comfort, acoustic environment, lighting environment, hygiene, safety, and security for 8 distinctive rooms/places of home. Multilevel analysis was done to identify the relationship between the perceived level of housing problem and PCS and MCS by clustering by sex. Compared to those who always felt unsafe at home due to interior design problem, participants who never felt unsafe showed an average of 10.51 (95% CI = 7.69–13.34, p < 0.0001) and 5.78 (95% CI = 2.90–8.65, p < 0.0001) higher physical and mental component score (better quality of life), respectively. Those who never had thermal, acoustic, lighting, hygiene, and security problems of housing also exhibited significantly better quality of life compared to participants who felt these problems.     

The impact of change upon rural-urban migrants in Turkey

The focus of this study is people's perception of their housing. The study took place in Ankara, Turkey, during the 1990–1991 academic year. The intention was not to test a particular set of hypotheses but to compare and contrast the lives of people who had migrated to squatter settlements in Ankara with those who had remained in rural settings. The key idea in selecting the two communities was to have a pool of interviewees who were reasonably similar with regard to life experimence except for the recent migration of the one group. The migrant group selected was living in a well-established squatter settlement which is located about a 10–15 minute minibus ride south of the city center. The sample of non-migrants came from a rural farming community about an hour drive northwest of Ankara. Data was collected utilizing a questionnaire during interviews conducted in the residents' homes. Questions dealt with both objective issues regarding their housing as well as their evaluations of the quality of their housing.The data analysis went through a series of stages, each stage reflecting another way of viewing the information. First, each set of evaluative variables and objective variables was analyzed, utilizing factor analysis and multidimensional scaling respectively, to derive a smaller number of index variables. Second, the total population (N=102) was segmented into the rural and urban groups and a t-test was performed to identify significant differences between these two populations. Third, the total population was segmented into four subgroups (urban male, urban female, rural male and rural female), which were compared utilizing analysis of variance to determine the impact of gender and environment on the residents' responses. Finally, a multiple linear regression analysis of the total population and the rural and urban subgroups was done to identify the subset of independent variables that are most useful for predicting resident satisfaction.The results indicate that there is a difference between rural and urban residents' perceptions of their housing. Rural residents are generally more satisfied with their housing than their urban counterparts. It seems that these differences in perceptions are influenced less by gender than by environment. Finally, although there is an objective difference in the quality of housing, the results suggest that subjective evaluations may have a greater impact on satisfaction than objective measures of residential quality.     

村镇小康住宅远传抄表设计

介绍了远传抄表系统的构成、分类,并对数据专线传输、数据低压电力线载波传输和数据无线传输做了比较详细的介绍和比较,针对村镇小康住宅的不同情况,建议选择不同系统作为村镇住宅远传抄表方式。徐玲献(中国建筑标准设计     

Inequities in the broadband revolution

Residential broadband options such as cable and digital subscriber lines are growing in popularity. However, evidence suggests that urban areas are receiving the majority of infrastructure investment, thereby leaving many rural locations with few options for broadband access. With access to telecommunication infrastructure becoming an increasingly important component to local economic development, issues of infrastructure equity are significant. This paper explores telecommunication equity and its effect on economic development by addressing the impact of geography on infrastructure investment and growth. A comprehensive database of broadband service providers and data from the Ecom-Ohio project (http://www.ecom-ohio.org), are used to explore broadband access options in the state of Ohio by examining the characteristics of market demand that are driving cable and digital subscriber line infrastructure investment. In addition, this paper develops an explanatory framework for identifying key market characteristics indicative of demand for residential broadband services through the use of statistical models and a geographic information system. Results suggest that income, education, age, location, and competition from alternative broadband platforms influence digital subscriber line infrastructure investment. Received: November 2001/Accepted: September 2002     

Rural migrants' homeownership in Chinese urban destinations: Do institutional arrangements still matter after Hukou reform?

In China, the hukou system has long been cited as the underlying cause of the disadvantages in housing access that rural migrants encounter in urban destinations. However, following the latest round of hukou reform, does the hukou system still have a significant impact on rural migrants' housing outcomes? This paper addresses the question by examining hukou-related arrangements faced by rural migrants, in both their urban destination and their rural town of origin. Based on data from a nationwide survey conducted in 2011, we find that city entry criteria together with insecure and inalienable land rights negatively predict rural migrants' homeownership attainment. Moreover, the impact differs across urban locations. Consequently, although hukou reform has eased discrimination against rural individuals, disparities persist between urban natives and rural migrants. This paper demonstrates that these disparities result from unequal access to social welfare and housing.     

Amenity,accessibility and housing values in metropolitan USA: A study of Salt Lake County,Utah

Negative amenities, such as air pollutions, have plagued many rapidly growing cities. However, researchers have not comprehensively examined their effects on housing values and on the local economy. These effects may be spatially auto-correlated with accessibility factors, differ in how they are dispersed over space and time, and have sizable localized effects. In this study, we use the assessed property value data and hedonic pricing models to examine consumers' underlying preferences for various amenities and accessibility factors in Salt Lake County, with a particular focus on air pollutions and forest coverage. Three models are used to address the problem of special and temporal heterogeneity. Results from ordinary least squares (OLS) regression show that single-family home values are affected not only by structural attributes, but also by urban amenities and accessibility factors such as air pollution, forest coverage, quality of public schools, and commuting cost. After controlling the covariates in spatial lag regression (SLR), we find that air pollutions and the lack of forest coverage have a significant and detrimental effect on housing values over time. Finally, results from geographically weighted regression (GWR) indicate that spatial heterogeneity is evident and that the forest coverage has more positive influences in the east side of Salt Lake County, while the negative effect of air pollutions is less pronounced on housing values in the southeast. However, air pollutions and forest cover matter irrespective of the method used.     

Solo dwellers and domestic spatial needs in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area,Finland

Abstract

Solo dwellers’ housing issues have received little attention in housing studies. This article addresses their domestic spatial needs in the context of the Helsinki Metropolitan Area (HMA) where dwelling sizes have decreased rapidly. A critical stance towards the trend of constructing small one-room apartments and related norm deregulation is based on the notion that dwellings should be at least 50?m² and contain more than one room in order to overcome the shortage of space experienced by solo dwellers (N?=?1453). Emphasizing the perspective of housing design, the findings provide insights into floor plan design by focussing on apartment types and sizes in relation to kitchen types and the experienced shortage of space. All in all, the article demonstrates that solo dwellers’ domestic spatial needs are more diverse than expected based on their household size and related public discussion on urban housing.     

Solid cooking fuel use and cognitive decline among older Mexican adults

Studies of air pollution and cognition often rely on measures from outdoor environments. Many individuals in low- and middle-income countries are exposed to indoor air pollution from combustion of solid cooking fuels. Little is known about how solid cooking fuel use affects cognitive decline over time. This study uses data from the 2012, 2015, and 2018 Mexican Health and Aging Study (n = 14 245, age 50+) to assess how use of wood or coal for cooking fuel affects cognition of older adults relative to use of gas. It uses latent change score modeling to determine how using solid cooking fuel affected performance in Verbal Learning, Verbal Recall, Visual Scanning, and Verbal Fluency. Solid cooking fuel was used by 17% of the full sample but was more common in rural areas. Solid fuel users also had lower socioeconomic status. Compared to those using gas, solid fuel users had lower baseline scores and faster decline in Verbal Learning (β = −0.18, p < 0.05), Visual Scanning (β = −1.00, p < 0.001), and Verbal Fluency (β = −0.33, p < 0.001). Indoor air pollution from solid cooking fuels may represent a modifiable risk factor for cognitive decline. Policy should focus on facilitating access to clean cooking fuels.     

Interstitial Space and Everyday Housing Practices

Abstract

This paper explores the role of interstitial space and everyday housing practices at the domestic scale. Interstitial space is often framed as “empty” or “in-between” space located in the shadows of conventional built form and everyday practices. In this paper, we focus on interstitial space as a site of often undervalued or taken-for-granted housing possibility. We begin the paper by outlining the contours of interstitial space as a theoretical concept before highlighting two cross-cultural examples of domestic housing storage practices within the Australian context: (1) “under the house” in the Queensland vernacular and (2) “close to the wind-break” in a remote Aboriginal community in the centre of Australia. We conclude by drawing attention to the importance of interstitial spatial practices for housing theory and practice and offer suggestions for further research.     

Landscape influence on recent rural migration in the U.S.

This study of recent rural (nonmetropolitan) migration in the U.S. finds that, consistent with research on landscape preferences, people have been most drawn to areas with a mix of forest and open land, water area, topographical variation, and relatively little cropland. A simultaneous equation model of 1990–2000 change in jobs and net migration indicates that landscape features influenced migration directly, not through effects on employment. An inordinate rise in housing values in the most highly scenic areas in 1990–2000 was associated with an exceptional slowing of migration to those areas in 2000–2005, an indication that housing supply constraints such as land use regulation may now be dampening the ties between landscape preferences and migration in rural areas. The study findings on current habitat selection are particularly interesting given the frequent conjecture that landscape preferences are adaptive, reflecting the most suitable habitats for early man.     

How are neighbourhood design features valued across different neighbourhood types?

In this paper, we examine whether implicit prices of neighbourhood design features in the housing market vary significantly across traditional, neo-traditional, and conventional suburban neighbourhood types. The set of neighbourhood design features we examine here include neighbourhood development density, street network connectivity, pedestrian access to transit and commercial stores, and land use mixture. Using data from Washington County, Oregon, we first use statistical procedures to identify distinct neighbourhood types. We then employ hedonic price analyses and a series of spatial Chow tests to obtain implicit prices of design attributes for houses in each neighbourhood type. We find that traditional design features such as higher street network connectivity and better pedestrian access to transit and commercial stores are valued more in the traditional and neo-traditional neighbourhoods, and that conventional neighbourhood features such as lower housing density and higher degree of homogeneous land uses are valued more in the suburban neighbourhoods.

Quality of housing and association with ADL situation among older adults in China’s rural contexts

The aging of the rural population is an increasingly influential factor affecting China's social and economic development. By extracting 5450 samples of “rural older adults” with the corresponding entries of housing quality and activities of daily living from China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study 2013, the study yielded an overview of the seniors’ housing conditions in China’s rural areas. Binary logistic regression analysis was applied to explore the potential association between three aspects of housing characteristics (general features, indoor equipment, and spatial composition) and the ADL status of the rural older adults, revealing that the building age, the building style of independent or compound, the type of structure, and whether there are flush toilets and telephone connections indoors, present a significant association with the ADL status. Possible interpretations of the results and strategies for improving the living conditions for the aging rural population were discussed. This study attempts to bridge the knowledge gap related to the housing conditions of seniors in rural China, thereby providing references for planners and policymakers.