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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2022

Embedding Climate Change in Urban Planning and Urban Design in New York City

Confronting the challenges of a rapidly urbanizing world threatened by climate change requires expanding the traditional influence and capabilities of urban planning and urban design, integrating climate science, natural systems and compact urban form to configure dynamic, desirable and healthy communities. Cost-effective planning and design measures that help mitigate emissions while bringing adaptive benefits should be prioritized. The chapter draws from the publication Climate Change and Cities (Cambridge University Press 2018) by the Urban Climate Change Research Network (UCCRN). The two-phase New York City case study by the Urban Design Climate Lab at the New York Institute of Technology and a team of international urban design climate experts illustrates how this emerging expertise can be replicated and implemented worldwide. Its focus on configuring people-centered public spaces that enhance energy efficiency and improve public health draws from four urban climate factors: improving efficiency of urban systems, both in energy and transportation; optimizing the form and layout of urban districts to enhance ventilation; promoting appropriate building materials with high reflectivity; and increasing green and blue urban infrastructure. The chapter highlights a set of tools and methods to measure success.

Resiliency↗
NASA NTRS2007

Policy Document on Earth Observation for Urban Planning and Management: State of the Art and Recommendations for Application of Earth Observation in Urban Planning

A policy document on earth observation for urban planning and management resulting from a workshop held in Hong Kong in November 2006 is presented. The aim of the workshop was to provide a forum for researchers and scientists specializing in earth observation to interact with practitioners working in different aspects of city planning, in a complex and dynamic city, Hong Kong. A summary of the current state of the art, limitations, and recommendations for the use of earth observation in urban areas is presented here as a policy document.

Nichol, Janet↗
NASA NTRS2021

Sacramento Urban Development: Quantifying and Mapping Urban Heat to Inform Urban Planning Initiatives in Sacramento, California

The combined effects of increasing urbanization and changing climatic conditions have exacerbated the urban heat island (UHI) effect and heat-related risks for city dwellers. Vulnerability to heat-related illnesses is further compounded by risk factors such as demographics, socioeconomic status, and pre-existing health conditions. The City of Sacramento, as California’s fastest-growing city by population, is particularly invested in combatting the UHI effect. The team collaborated with the City of Sacramento and urban planning firm, Dyett and Bhatia, on three main goals: assessing urban heat at the neighborhood scale, identifying priority areas for cooling interventions, and assessing heat risk to the population. This project utilized NASA Earth observation products to identify hotspots within the communities of Sacramento and create maps of urban heat, the heat-mitigation index, and heat risk from 2016-2020. The team used the Surface Reflectance product from Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) and Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) and the ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station (ECOSTRESS) thermal infrared sensor. Additionally, the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST) urban cooling model was used to assess the impact of increased tree canopy scenarios. Urban hotspots were identified in central Sacramento and along major transportation corridors such as Stockton Boulevard, while the highest risk areas were identified in the communities of Fruitridge/Broadway and North Sacramento. This project identified these high-opportunity areas for heat mitigation to inform the City of Sacramento's General Plan and reduce citizen risk by addressing urban heat islands.

DEVELOP Project Summary↗
NASA NTRS2021

Sacramento Urban Development: Quantifying and Mapping Urban Heat to Support Urban Planning Initiatives in Sacramento, California

The combined effects of increasing urbanization and climate change have exacerbated the urban heat island (UHI) effect and heat-related risks for city dwellers. Vulnerability to heat-related illnesses is further compounded by risk factors such as demographics, socioeconomic status, and pre-existing health conditions. The City of Sacramento, as California’s fastest growing city in terms of population, is particularly invested in combatting the UHI effect. The team collaborated with the City of Sacramento and urban planning firm, Dyett and Bhatia, on three main goals: assessing urban heat at the neighborhood scale; identifying priority areas for cooling interventions; and assessing heat risk to the population. This project utilized NASA Earth observation products to identify hotspots within the community areas of Sacramento and create maps of urban heat, the heat-mitigation index, and heat risk of the study period from 2016-2020. The Surface Reflectance product were used from Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) and Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) and ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station (ECOSTRESS) thermal infrared sensor. Additionally, the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST) Urban cooling model was used to assess the impact of increased tree canopy scenarios. Urban hotspots were identified in central Sacramento and along major transportation corridors such as Stockton Boulevard, while highest risk areas were identified in the community areas of Fruitridge/Broadway and North Sacramento. This project identified these high-opportunity areas for heat mitigation to inform the City of Sacramento's General Plan. This will inform the partners’ plans to reduce citizen risk by addressing urban heat islands.

Karina Alvarez↗
NASA NTRS1972

Benefits from remote sensing data utilization in urban planning processes and system recommendations

The benefits of utilizing remote sensor data in the urban planning process of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments are investigated. An evaluation of sensor requirements, a description/ comparison of costs, benefits, levels of accuracy, ease of attainment, and frequency of update possible using sensor versus traditional data acquisition techniques are discussed.

Mallon, H. J.↗
DOE OSTI2025

Visual‐Analytics Bridge Complexity and Accessibility for Robust Urban Water Planning

Urban water resources planning is complicated by unprecedented uncertainty in supply and demand. Real‐world planning often simplifies the full range of uncertainty faced by a system into a limited set of deterministic scenarios to enhance accessibility for decision‐makers and the public. However, overlooking uncertainty can expose the system to failures. On the other end of the spectrum, academically developed tools for scenario analysis rigorously quantify the combined effects of multiple sources of uncertainty, but the practical application of these models is limited by the challenges of information visualization and communication of results. In short, municipal water supply planners lack access to planning frameworks that effectively integrate a rigorous treatment of uncertainty with accessible, user‐friendly visual and interactive tools to enhance user accessibility. In this work, we fill this gap by proposing Visual‐Robust Decision Making, and demonstrate an application for the city of Santa Barbara (SB), CA. Santa Barbara faces multiple uncertainties from pending state and federal regulations to changing hydrology and water demand. The city seeks to increase its water portfolio robustness by expanding its seawater desalination plant, but must decide how much capacity to add. We introduce computational tools that assess uncertainty across nine uncertain drivers identified with the help of water planners in SB. To allow public participation in the desalination expansion decision, we develop interactive visual‐analytics to aid decision‐makers and stakeholders in navigating complex scenario analysis outcomes. Our results quantify the tradeoffs between increased capacity and system robustness and aim to enhance participation and uncertainty characterization of urban water planning efforts.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
NASA NTRS2021

San Diego Urban Development: Utilizing NASA Earth Observations to Identify Drivers of Extreme Urban Heat and Generate a High-Resolution Vulnerability Index for Urban Planning and Climate Resiliency in San Diego, California

Exposure to heat exacerbated by an increase in urbanization as well as increasing global temperatures has become a growing concern for cities and their residents. Excess heat can cause increased heat-related morbidity, mortality, and energy costs. Vulnerability to heat-related illnesses is oftentimes correlated to demographics, socioeconomic status, and pre-existing health conditions. The City of San Diego, California boasts 1.4 million residents and, like many other major cities, has experienced increases in heat-related hospitalizations and mortality. The burden of urban heat is also not equal amongst communities; areas with lower income and communities of color bear a disproportionate burden. In partnership with the City of San Diego, and American Geophysical Union’s (AGU) Thriving Earth Exchange, the DEVELOP team used Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) and Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS), and ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station (ECOSTRESS) imagery to identify areas of highest heat based on land surface temperature from 2015-2020. Our analyses showed that health demographics such as obesity and cardiovascular health were the strongest indicators for heat vulnerability. In addition, various inputs (land use/land cover, tree canopy, and building intensity derived from the City of San Diego data along with albedo from Landsat 8) were used in the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST) urban cooling model to investigate changes in cooling rates in current and future scenarios for the city. The model results showed that cooling is expected to occur due to a 5% increase in tree canopy. The City of San Diego can use these results to inform the development of the Climate Resilient San Diego plan and prioritize at-risk communities for cooling interventions.

John Dialesandro↗
NASA NTRS2022

Wichita Climate II: Quantifying and Mapping Urban Heat to Inform Equitable and Sustainable Urban Planning Initiatives in Wichita, Kansas

Wichita, Kansas is experiencing a host of climate threats, particularly extreme heat manifested through Urban Heat Islands (UHI). Heat is unevenly distributed within cities due to factors such as income inequality, historical discriminatory practices like redlining, and divestment in neighborhoods of color. This leads to less vegetation and more heat-absorbing infrastructure in specific communities. Moreover, adverse effects of heat, including heat-related morbidity and mortality, disproportionately impact populations that experience vulnerability through social inequities and structural discrimination. Heat vulnerability is a combination of the factors of heat exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity, and can be harnessed to guide urban heat interventions. This DEVELOP project partnered with the City of Wichita to understand the spatial distribution and drivers of UHIs and heat vulnerability indicators. The team modeled outcomes of tree cover interventions using Landsat 8’s Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) and Operational Land Imager (OLI), Landsat 9 TIRS-2 and OLI-2, and the International Space Station’s Ecosystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on the International Space Station (ECOSTRESS) sensor, along with the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST) Urban Cooling model. The team also leveraged statistical analysis by implementing principal component analysis to develop a heat vulnerability index (HVI) specific to Wichita. Ultimately, the project’s outputs will inform the City of Wichita’s Climate Adaptation and Mitigation Plan, identify priority areas for heat mitigation initiatives, and be used in public-facing communications to educate communities on the impacts of urban heat.

Environmental Justice↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Wichita Climate II: Quantifying and Mapping Urban Heat to Inform Equitable and Sustainable Urban Planning Initiatives in Wichita, Kansas

Extreme heat is the deadliest weather-related event in the United States, as well as one of the least discussed. Climate change has raised the frequency, intensity, and duration of severe heat events. The built, urban environment is often hotter than neighboring rural areas due to a denser concentration of pavement, metal and other building materials absorbing and retaining heat, as well as a low amount of vegetation – creating a phenomenon commonly known as the urban heat island effect. This effect contributes to a wide range of public health issues, associated with heat strokes, dehydration, loss of work productivity, decreased learning, respiratory difficulties, and heat-related mortality. The average summer temperature in Wichita has increased 1.3 degrees (F) since 1970, and the number of days over 100 degrees (F) has historically increased, from 40 days in 1934 to 53 days in 2011.

Ritisha Ghosh↗
NASA NTRS1975

Remote sensing applications for urban planning - The LUMIS project

The Santa Monica mountains of Los Angeles consist primarily of complexly folded sedimentary marine strata with igneous and metamorphic rocks at the eastern end of the mountains. With the increased development of the Santa Monicas, a study was conducted to determine the critical land use data items in the mountains. Two information systems developed in parallel are described. One capitalizes on the City's present computer line printer system, and the second utilizes map overlay techniques on an interactive computer terminal. Results concerning population, housing, and land improvement illustrate the successful linking of ordinal and nominal data files in the interactive system.-

Paul, C. K.↗
NASA NTRS1975

LUMIS: A Land Use Management Information System for urban planning

The Land Use Management Information System (LUMIS) consists of a methodology of compiling land use maps by means of air photo interpretation techniques, digitizing these and other maps into machine-readable form, and numerically overlaying these various maps in two computer software routines to provide land use and natural resource data files referenced to the individual census block. The two computer routines are the Polygon Intersection Overlay System (PIOS) and an interactive graphics APL program. A block referenced file of land use, natural resources, geology, elevation, slope, and fault-line items has been created and supplied to the Los Angeles Department of City Planning for the City's portion of the Santa Monica Mountains. In addition, the interactive system contains one hundred and seventy-three socio-economic data items created by merging the Third Count U.S. Census Bureau tapes and the Los Angeles County Secured Assessor File. This data can be graphically displayed for each and every block, block group, or tract for six test tracts in Woodland Hills, California. Other benefits of LUMIS are the knowledge of air photo availability, flight pattern coverage and frequencies, and private photogrammetry companies flying Southern California, as well as a formal Delphi study of relevant land use informational needs in the Santa Monicas.

Paul, C. K.↗
NASA NTRS1976

Delineation of geological problems for use in urban planning

Activities of the University of Alabama in support of state and local planning commissions are reported. Demonstrations were given of the various types of remotely sensed images available from U-2, Skylab, and LANDSAT; and their uses and limitations were discussed. Techniques to be used in determining flood prone areas were provided for environmental studies. A rapid, inexpensive method for study was developed by which imagery is copied on 35 mm film and projected on existing topographic maps for measuring delta volume and growth.

Hughes, T. H.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Remote sensing for urban planning

Utility companies are challenged to provide services to a highly dynamic customer base. With factory closures and shifts in employment becoming a routine occurrence, the utility industry must develop new techniques to maintain records and plan for expected growth. BellSouth Telecommunications, the largest of the Bell telephone companies, currently serves over 13 million residences and 2 million commercial customers. Tracking the movement of customers and scheduling the delivery of service are major tasks for BellSouth that require intensive manpower and sophisticated information management techniques. Through NASA's Commercial Remote Sensing Program Office, BellSouth is investigating the utility of remote sensing and geographic information system techniques to forecast residential development. This paper highlights the initial results of this project, which indicate a high correlation between the U.S. Bureau of Census block group statistics and statistics derived from remote sensing data.

Davis, Bruce A.↗