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1. Sharing the Sidewalk: Observing Delivery Robot Interactions with Pedestrians during a Pilot in Pittsburgh, PA

   https://doi.org/10.3390/mti7050053  

   Weinberg, David; Dwyer, Healy; Fox, Sarah E.; Martelaro, Nikolas (May 2023, Multimodal Technologies and Interaction)

   Sidewalk delivery robots are being deployed as a form of last-mile delivery. While many such robots have been deployed on college campuses, fewer have been piloted on public sidewalks. Furthermore, there have been few observational studies of robots and their interactions with pedestrians. To better understand how sidewalk robots might integrate into public spaces, the City of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania conducted a pilot of sidewalk delivery robots to understand possible uses and the challenges that could arise in interacting with people in the city. Our team conducted ethnographic observations and intercept interviews to understand how residents perceived of and interacted with sidewalk delivery robots over the course of the public pilot. We found that people with limited knowledge about the robots crafted stories about their purpose and function. We observed the robots causing distractions and obstructions with different sidewalk users (including children and dogs), witnessed people helping immobilized robots, and learned about potential accessibility issues that the robots may pose. Based on our findings, we contribute a set of recommendations for future pilots, as well as questions to guide future design for robots in public spaces. 

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2. Microclimate impacts of neighborhood redesign in a desert community using ENVI-met and MaRTy

   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.uclim.2023.101702  

   Crank, Peter J; Middel, Ariane; Coseo, Paul; Sailor, David J (November 2023, Urban Climate)

   Municipalities often consider heat mitigation strategies to address urban overheating, but the location of implementation rarely is co-located with the communities that are carrying the majority of the heat burden in the city. The City of Phoenix, is redeveloping a public housing community with a focus on urban cooling as a desired outcome. This research uses in situ measurements (including the mobile micro-meteorological measurement cart, MaRTy) and ENVI-met microscale modeling of the neighborhood to assess air temperature (Tair) cooling capabilities of the planned redesigns to the neighborhood. After validating the ENVI-met model of the current neighborhood with fixed and mobile measurements with an index of agreement d > 0.9 and d > 0.8, respectively, analysis of the planned urban design shows some cool spots connected to new shade and vegetated corridors with Tair cooling magnitudes as high as 3 °C. Yet, some exposed and building-adjacent areas were identified as potential hot spots in the planned neighborhood. These hotspots underscore the importance of continued collaboration among the City, researchers, and the community to address the needs of the community for the creation of healthier urban environments. 

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3. Mapping pedestrian network level outdoor heat hazard distributions in Philadelphia

   https://doi.org/10.1177/23998083241274391  

   Li, Xiaojiang (May 2025, Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science)

   With the rise of global temperature, many cities are suffering from more and more frequent extreme heat in hot summers. Quantitative information on the spatial distributions of urban heat has become more and more important for extreme heat mitigation and adaptation in cities. This study first investigated the fine-level heat hazard distributions at the sidewalk and building block level from the pedestrian perspective in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The urban microclimate modeling based on a high-resolution urban geometrical model was used to generate the 1m resolution outdoor heat hazard map in the study area. The sidewalk map was overlaid on the generated high-resolution heat hazard map to estimate the sidewalk level heat hazard. Based on the sidewalk level heat hazard map, this study further calculated the heat hazard level in the 400m walkshed along sidewalks for each building block. The building level hazard data were then aggregated at the census tract level to compare with the socioeconomic and racial/ethnic variables. The result shows that neighborhoods with higher proportion of African Americans have a higher heat hazard level in Philadelphia. This study would provide new insights for developing more thermally comfortable and pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods in the context of climate change. 

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4. Un suburbio de Teotihuacan: Nuevas investigaciones en el barrio de Hacienda Metepec

   Forest, Marion; Somerville, Andrew (July 2023, Trace)

   This article presents the research questions and initial results of the Project Hacienda Metepec (2021-2022). Examination of the archaeological background and the recent mapping of this peripheral neighborhood of Teotihuacan allows for a discussion about its formation process, at the margin of the city. The neighborhood could have resulted from distinct urban growth processes, including planning, following the principles applied in the central sectors of Teotihuacan or, at the contrary, less planned, or unplanned sprawl. First observations of architectural elements and spatial organization suggest planning, however, the contrast between the monumentality of the neighborhood core and its relative spatial isolation remain unclear 

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5. Who's Moving In? A Longitudinal Analysis of Home Purchase Loan Borrowers in New Transit Neighborhoods

   https://doi.org/10.1111/gean.12234  

   Delmelle, Elizabeth C.; Nilsson, Isabelle; Schuch, Johanna Claire (March 2020, Geographical Analysis)

   This article examines the characteristics of residents moving into new rail transit neighborhoods using longitudinal, individual‐level data from the Housing Mortgage Disclosure Act. To disentangle the role of transit from other neighborhood amenities that may give rise to shifts in the socioeconomic or demographic profile of homebuyers, an exploratory text analysis is first performed on property advertisements in transit‐adjacent neighborhoods. This informs the creation of variables for our models that estimate the probability of an applicant applying for a loan by race and income, and highlights where light rail is most prominently advertised as an amenity. We do not find that the announcement of a new light rail line significantly alters the income profile of loan applicants. Rather, proximity to the center city is a more important determinant in attracting higher income applicants. We do find that the announcement of the transit line is significant in explaining changes in the racial profile of applicants. Postannouncement, White applicants are significantly more likely to apply for loans in transit‐adjacent neighborhoods, while Blacks are significantly less likely to. As for other amenities, the walkability of a neighborhood is significant in predicting where White applicants are more likely to apply for home purchase loans. 

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