Study Guide Ch. 6 Cultural and Human Systems Flashcards
The following techniques are used to acquire data for site inventory and analysis in the context of human and cultural systems
Interviews
Focus Groups
Charrettes/workshops
Surveys
Literature and document research
Participant observation
Unlike the physical and living systems described in the previous chapters, many of the data points for cultural and human systems are qualitative and must be collected using techniques borrowed from the social sciences.
For example, a site’s users, uses and various activities could be recorded through time-lapse photography or audio recordings of interviews with a focus group, and these data could be used to identify issues with the site or to set goals for a design project. Note also that visits to a precedent site—one that correlates to an anticipated use for a new project—can be used to generate relevant data, and that information about current or prospective site users (e.g. demographics) can be used to anticipate or accommodate human needs (especially if the site users are elderly or children).
Focus groups
bring together a group (generally 7-10 people) in an effort to determine their opinions on a subject or series of subjects.
Focus group participants can be drawn from the general public, but they can also be composed of specialists or subject experts, and they are not required to all share the same opinion or draw the same conclusions.
one of the benefits of a focus group is that it can bring people of diverse perspectives and backgrounds into the same room
When led by facilitator, focus groups are
a good way to collect qualitative forms of data, including how they feel about a project, how they experience a site, or what they value in their community.
Used as such, focus groups can improve the planning and design of new programs, introduce new ideas to the design team, and they can also be used to evaluate existing programs
A successful focus group exercise will include the following elements
Invitations to focus group participants
Transportation to the meeting site
Audio and video recording equipment
Facilitator with script and core themes
Presentation materials/visual aids
Refreshments
Release forms
Transcript of focus group discussion (produced after the event concludes)
Visual preference surveys
are a useful tool in helping communities and the general public determine how they would like their neighborhood/city to look in the future
typically conducted by showing precedent imagery to a person/group of people and asking for their feedback on that image.
are particularly well-suited for use with populations that have difficult reading design drawings (especially plans)
typically conducted using photographs or perspective renderings (two of the most intuitive and legible drawing types).
Visual preference surveys can address a multitude of topics, but—within the context of the LARE Section 2—they generally address:
Building scale, massing and placement
Building articulation
Streetscapes
Open space/parks
Parking and mass transit
Charrettes
are a form of meeting in which all project stakeholders engage in a period of design and/or planning to generate solutions for the project.
These stakeholders can be defined in many ways—for example, charrettes can engage neighborhood groups, members of the design team or a group of public officials.
Whereas focus groups emphasize data acquisition—particularly related to opinions—charrettes are often more interactive and projective, and they typically require participants to translate their opinions into discrete preferences or even elements of a proposed design through a process of collaboration.
As such, charrettes are particularly relevant to a project as it transitions from analysis into the concept design phase, and charrettes may be used to present stakeholders with a series of concept plans that are based on the outcomes of the site inventory and analysis process
four key elements of a charrette
1. Identification of a specific community problem to study, understand, and hopefully resolve.
2. Participation of interested citizens, particularly those experiencing the problem (or its effects), who are willing to be involved in the decision-making process. This is a fundamental component of the charrette.
3. Involvement of professional experts from within and outside the community. Initially these experts listen and learn as citizens express their concerns. Later, one of the strengths of the charrette process lies in consensus building as citizens and experts brainstorm together to find solutions. Resource material is typically made available to assist in this process.
4. Commitment from the relevant power structure to put into effect the plans and recommendations of the charrette. Representatives of the power structure are to be present to hear the concerns expressed by the citizens
Charrette Process
General plan vision ->
Initial plan concept #1-3 ->
Public input ->
Refined plan option #1-2 ->
Public review ->
Final plan ->
Public confirmation
Post-Occupancy Evaluation (POE)
are used to determine if the built design meets the needs of the owner and site users.
can provide the design team with valuable feedback and help them understand what aspects of their design were successful, how well the project meets the needs of its users and what aspects could be improved in the future, as well as providing data and conclusions that can be applied to design guidelines.
Needs Assessment
are typically used during the development of a master plan (or other large-scale planning document) or at the very beginning of the design process.
Are used to determine what a specific population (often a community) believes they are lacking, with an emphasis on elements in the built environment.
For example, if a city is developing a new park, they may conduct a needs assessment to determine what amenities local citizens would like included in any proposed design. Information gathered during a needs assessment is not binding in any way, and needs assessments typically make use of the questionnaires and interviews.
Data for needs assessments may also be collected through site visits, as well as through quantitative techniques, including mapping and calculations to determine a specific level of service (e.g., frequency of a specific amenity per 1,000 inhabitants). Data collected during a needs assessment is used to establish a comparative relationship between existing conditions and ideal circumstances. For example, a needs assessment may reveal that there are 3 playgrounds in a city, but that 7 playgrounds would provide an ideal level of service based upon community feedback and other data. Because of this, needs assessments are most useful to design professionals when the findings are truly representative of public sentiment and when there is support for the actions and conclusions outlined in the final assessment document.
Level of service
frequency of a specific amenity per 1,000 inhabitants
User surveys
Surveys are generally comprised of questionnaires and interviews, and both methods of data collection work best when:
- They are preceded by pre-notification
- Contain clear, non-technical language
- Have a well-delineated purpose clearly stated in an introduction
- Are concise and make use of graphics as needed
- Are not overly difficult or time-consuming for the participant
Questionnaires
are a self-administered survey technique, and they allow respondents to complete the survey at a time of their choosing and with the benefit of relative anonymity.
Interviews
are a sequence of (scripted or unscripted) questions led by an interviewer. Because they are based on direct human interaction, interviews have the potential to be more flexible, both by introducing unscripted follow-up questions and by allowing the interviewer to skip specific questions if desired.
Community Visioning
is a relatively broad planning activity in which a community develops a shared concept for their future and determines how this concept (or “vision”) will be achieved.
According to the text Planning and Urban Design Standards, visioning should:
- Reflect core community values
- Draw from the whole of the community
- Address emerging issues or trends
- Promote local action
- Envision a preferred future
It should be noted that community visioning can be enacted through multiple activities, including task forces, surveys, focus groups and workshops. These activities are chosen based upon their relevance to the goals at a specific timepoint in the visioning process (e.g., capture diverse viewpoints vs. promote in-depth discussion), and a community visioning exercise may make use of all or many of these activities over the course of its development.
Sanborn Maps
a type of fire insurance map that was created for risk assessment purposes, and they cover a time period from the early 20th century to the 1990s
Previously heavy industry
chemical contaminants or other toxic wastes on the site, either above or below ground
Previously agricultural
extensive topsoil losses from soil erosion or that wetland areas were filled in to create more arable land
Comprehensive Plans
(Master plans)
are a planning document that establishes a government’s (usually a municipality or county) policy for the long-term future development of the land under their control, usually over a twenty- to thirty-year period
bring together all of the major determinants of growth and development (housing, transportation, utilities, natural and cultural resources, community demographics and economic development) into a single planning document
establish a series of non-binding policy goals
often include speculative plans to illustrate how policy goals might translate into the built environment, and although they may be used to influence capital improvement programs or zoning ordinances, the information contained in a comprehensive plan is considered non-binding and can be revised if so desired
Zoning
a system of land use controls that limits or otherwise delineates development on a specific parcel of land.
In its most basic form, zoning separates potentially conflicting land uses, for instance preventing an oil refinery from being constructed next to a daycare. By establishing separation through the logic of compatible and non-compatible uses, property owners’ investments are protected and public health, safety and welfare is promoted.
Enforced via the contents of the zoning code and described via a zoning map that illustrates the location of each zoning district/type of zone (e.g. single-family residential).
Zoning regulations address the following issues within each zone:
1. Permitted use of land and buildings.
General use categories include specific uses such as residential (R), agriculture (A), commercial (C), and industrial (I), as well as areas such as floodplains (FP) and open space (OS). Uses are further divided by their intensity into subcategories such as R1 (low-density residential) and R3 (high-density residential).
2. Intensity of the use.
For single-family residential uses, intensity is generally controlled through minimum lot sizes and by dwelling units per acre for multifamily residential districts. For nonresidential districts, intensity may be expressed as floor area ratio (FAR).
3. Height and other dimensional standards.
These standards define the portion of the parcel that can be occupied by buildings and may establish a maximum percentage of the site to be covered by a new building, the building’s FAR, and/or the building’s height. Dimensional standards are also enforced by minimum lot sizes and through required building setbacks from property lines.
Although it is the primary system of regulating development in the United States
zoning has been criticized for its lack of flexibility and failure to produce aesthetically pleasing development at the neighborhood or city scale, the frequent inconsistency between the zoning code and planning goals and policies, as well as the relative ease of zone changes or rezoning and the vulnerability of ordinances to short-term political goals.
Zoning Code
a legal document used by public agencies to regulate land use.
Zoning codes usually include a statement of purpose, definitions, and a description of districts, including a list of permitted uses and development standards.
Zoning codes can be adopted by several scales of government—typically towns, cities and counties—and they are comprised of specific ordinances (“zoning ordinance”) related to the control of land use and development.
Zoning Map
illustrates the location and extents of each zone type/district, as well as the location of overlay districts
Zoning Overlays
are special districts established within the zoning code that offer additional protections to specific resources.
For example, prime farmland, historic neighborhoods and environmentally sensitive areas can receive protections from an overlay designation, with these protections developed to specifically protect or promote these resources.
For example, properties within a historic neighborhood may be allowed to have a much smaller front yard setback to conform to the character of the existing built environment in that neighborhood.
Zoning Commission
(Zoning Board)
is a regulatory body of public officials that governs planning and development-related issues, specifically those issues that may not be approved at a staff level (e.g. conditional use permits and variances).
Variance
allow certain restricted forms of development to be permitted due to extenuating circumstances, specifically if compliance with the zoning requirements would pose a hardship on the landowner.
Variances can affect or change minimum set-back requirements, building height and floor area limits, as well as similar dimensional issues. However, a variance cannot be used to alter the essential character of the zoning district in which the land is located, including allowing a nonconforming use.
Conditional Uses
(Conditional Use Permits)
are similar to variances in that they both allow for a property owner to request an exception to a zoning ordinance subject to approval by a zoning board/zoning commission.
However, conditional use permits allow for nonconforming uses to be permitted within a specific zone, whereas variances do not (given that they generally address dimensional and density-related issues). Conditional use permits are generally granted when the non-permitted use would benefit the general welfare of the community and if the change would be consistent with objectives outlined by the jurisdiction’s comprehensive plan.
Floor Area Ratio
(FAR)
establishes the ratio between the gross square footage of a building and the size of a lot.
For example, a 1-story building covering 50% of a site would have a FAR of 0.5, a 2-story building covering 50% of a site would have a FAR of 1.0—as would a 1-story building covering all of a site—and a 4-story building occupying 50% of a site would produce a FAR of 2.0. You will likely be asked to make a FAR calculation on the LARE Section 2.
Cluster Development
Unlike TODs (discussed below), cluster developments do not increase development density on a site.
Rather, cluster developments take the total number of development units allowed on a site and group these units into clusters of greater density, thereby preserving open space.
With that said, cluster developments will sometimes be awarded a density bonus to encourage cluster-style development.
The benefits of cluster development include:
- Preservation of open space and site character
- Protection of critical natural and cultural/historic resources on a site
- Reduction of impervious surfaces across the site
- Lowered construction costs for streets, utilities and other infrastructure
- Reduction in site disturbance/grading
- Reduced visual impact of existing communities
Mixed Use Development
combine residential and commercial uses
