Paul Hess

University of Toronto | U of T · Department of Geography

As in many cities, utilitarian cycling is part of Toronto’s climate strategy. For this tactic to work, cycling must occur throughout the city, yet despite most of the city’s suitable short trips (60%) occurring in the suburbs, suburban residents cycle far less for transport than downtown residents where most cycling infrastructure is found. Nonethe...

Problem, research strategy, and findings The multilane arterial roadway is a central feature of post–World War II (WWII) suburbs that challenges efforts to create more transit-oriented regions. Retrofitting suburbs is an important planning goal, but research examining the urban form of arterials and their potential for transformation has been scarc...

This paper examines street design as an emergency response for physical distancing in public space during the coronavirus pandemic. We assess how design ideas for streets were discussed and promoted through news media from February through October of 2020. This marks a temporary, though potentially paradigmatic, shift in how streets function. To wh...

Unsafe cycling environments are often hypothesized as a key factor behind a gender gap in bicycling. We examine gendered safety perceptions using data from street intercept surveys across 10 urban and suburban study areas in the Toronto region, Canada, five with on-street bicycle infrastructure, and five without. Results reinforce that cyclists who...

Over the last decade, vehicles have been used as weapons to target, kill, and injure pedestrians in cities such as London, New York, and Berlin. In response to these attacks, governments are implementing new policies and physical interventions to securitize pedestrian spaces. A previous wave of urban securitization hardened buildings against explos...

Cycling facilities have become a widely used sustainable transportation policy tool, but their impacts on reduced car dependence are difficult to isolate. This paper presents the findings from a household survey conducted in 17 neighbourhoods in the Toronto region, Canada, some with a recently built cycling facility and some without. Results indica...

Research about school travel and the built environment developed using positivist and post-positivist onto-epistemologies often relies heavily on travel surveys, activity diaries, GPS tracking, and the “objective” measurement of built environment features using geographical information systems and planimetric data. That work takes up and applies sp...

Bicycle is a single-track pedal-driven vehicle that is used across the world for both transportation and recreational purposes. As a human powered transportation option, it is often considered a healthier, more environmentally sustainable and socially equitable alternative to short automobile trips. In the late-19th century, bicycling was seen as a...

Shared e-scooter systems are operating across hundreds of cities worldwide. However, limited understanding of the user demand, as well as how this demand varies across individuals with various transportation preferences living in different urban contexts, is a key barrier to developing policy and regulations. This paper begins to close this gap by...

Mexico City is rapidly building livable streets (i.e., streets redesigned to accommodate pedestrians, cyclists, and public space users). Livable streets are justified by decision makers as investments to increase urban equity yet tend to reinforce socioeconomic stratification through their location in wealthy and/or gentrifying neighborhoods. Using...

The Complete Streets Act of 2009 preceded a proliferation of municipal level complete streets policies across United States. These policies aim to challenge auto-centric street design standards in favor of “complete streets” that are safe for users of all abilities. This proliferation of “complete streets” policy is noteworthy progress in addressin...

In the 1950s, Toronto ratepayer associations inserted themselves into debates about property relations and the appropriate use of the City’s new redevelopment authority as then being tested by elected officials and developers. Two case studies are presented: a designated redevelopment area where the City failed to close a deal with development firm...

A tool for measuring the “completeness” of a complete street has applications in developing policy, prioritising areas for infrastructure investment for a network, and solving the right-of-way allocation problem for individual streets. A literature review was conducted on the state-of-art in the assessment complete street designs. Complete streets...

With the growing environmental and health concerns associated with automobile-dependence, municipalities across the Western World are investing in cycling facilities to encourage drivers and transit users to take up cycling as a mode of transportation, a process that is known as the travel mode substitution. This study explored the potential impact...

This paper considers the creation and the subsequent meaning of ‘redevelopment areas’ in Toronto in the 1950s. The city passed a bylaw in 1952 that defined blighted areas as suitable for redevelopment. One of these areas was the downtown district that runs between Wood and Wellesley streets. The history of the Wood-Wellesley redevelopment area betw...

A fundamental characteristic of Toronto-region suburban development has been the creation of a distinctive and robust model of planning for greenfield land development, at relatively high densities, with a mix of housing types, and significant continuity of built form. A plan-led system was created with subdivision control as the primary instrument...

Executive Summary Transit investment serves a dual purpose: that of providing better mobility options for existing residents and employers, and of encouraging new local investment and intensification that will lead to improved services, walkability, and livability in urban areas. Redevelopment and intensification, however, are more likely in some p...

In this article, we use parcel-based land-use data to analyze 50years of residential development in the Toronto region. We test two hypotheses: (1) Toronto's form does not conform to conventional definitions of suburban sprawl and (2) Toronto's suburban development shows high levels of continuity over time with relatively high densities and mixed h...

Objectives: This study examines environmental factors associated with BMI (body mass index) levels among adolescents with the aim of identifying potential interventions for reducing childhood obesity. Methods: Students (n=1,048) aged 10-14 years at 28 schools in London, ON, completed a survey providing information on age, sex, height, weight, ho...

This study examined the relationship between the neighborhood food environment and the food purchasing behaviors among adolescents. Grade 7 and 8 students (n = 810) at 21 elementary schools in London, Ontario, Canada completed a questionnaire assessing their food purchasing behaviors. Parents of participants also completed a brief questionnaire pro...

Objective: To examine the relationship between the neighbourhood food environment and dietary intake among adolescents. Design: Cross-sectional design using: (i) a geographic information system to assess characteristics of the neighbourhood food environment and neighbourhood socio-economic status; (ii) the modified Healthy Eating Index (HEI) to...

This study examined environmental influences on a child's mode of travel between home and school. Grade 7 and 8 students (n = 614) from twenty-one schools throughout London, Ontario, participated in a school-based travel mode survey. Geographic information systems (GIS) were employed to examine environmental characteristics of the child's mode of t...

Emerging evidence supports a link between neighbourhood built environment and physical activity. Systematic methodologies for characterising neighbourhood built environment are needed that take advantage of available population information such as census-level demographics. Based on transportation and urban planning literatures, an integrated index...

We examined whether certain characteristics of the social and physical environment influence a child's mode of travel between home and school. Students aged 11 to 13 years from 21 schools throughout London, Ontario, answered questions from a travel behavior survey. A geographic information system linked survey responses for 614 students who lived w...

This paper explores why Toronto's policies for improving pedestrian conditions are not better reflected in the design of arterial streets as the city tries to refashion them into pedestrian-oriented ‘Avenues’. Professional frameworks shaping street design date from the first half of the 20th century and reflect a consensus between the fields of pla...

With New Urbanist ideas reshaping the form of American and Canadian suburban development, this research surveys residents of three Toronto-area neighborhoods to explore how residents use the streets, yards, and alleys immediately adjoining their houses. Despite the presence of attractive front yards and streets, because most of the residents survey...

This study assessed the amount of physical activity engaged in by youth aged 11-13, in relation to: (1) the presence of neighborhood recreational opportunities, objectively measured within a geographic information system; and (2) parents' perceptions of recreation opportunities in their neighborhoods. Students in grade 7 and 8 (n=811) in 21 element...

This research examines the relationship between pedestrian accident locations on state-owned facilities (highways and urban arterials) and the presence of riders load-ing and alighting from bus transit. Many state facilities are important metropolitan transit corridors with large numbers of bus stops users, resulting in increased expo-sure of pedes...

Planning tools were developed for local and state agencies to identify locations with latent demand for pedestrian travel that are currently underserved with pedestrian infrastructure. Prior research in the Puget Sound showed that approximately 20% of the suburban population lives in dense, compact areas with latent demand for pedestrian travel. Th...

Density and land use mix are focused on as the two primary variables for characterization of land use in transportation research. As commonly constructed, these variables do not capture well actual development patterns on the ground, thus obscuring a potentially strong relationship between land use and transportation behavior. To overcome these lim...

Almost 20% of the suburban population in the central Puget Sound lives in 85 small clusters characterized by areas of medium-density residential development in unexpectedly close proximity to retail and office uses and with a high proportion of people of color. These clusters challenge the traditional depiction of suburban housing as decentralized,...

Research findings are summarized regarding the relationship between site design and pedestrian travel in mixed-use, medium-density environ- ments, and recommendations are set forth for improving pedestrian facil- ities in suburban neighborhoods. A quasi-experimental method is used to study pedestrian volumes into 12 neighborhood commercial centers...

Almost 20% of the suburban population in the central Puget Sound lives in 85 small clusters characterized by areas of medium-density residential development in unexpectedly close proximity to retail and office uses and with a high proportion of people of color. These clusters challenge the traditional depiction of suburban housing as decentralized,...

Whether high or low incidence of pedestrian travel in mixed-use, medium-density environments is due to site design characteristics, and specifically to presence of direct, continuous, and safe pedestrian systems, is examined. Twelve neighborhood centers or sites in the Puget Sound area of Washington were selected by matching gross residential densi...

Thesis (M. Urban Plan.)--University of Washington, 1994. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [174]-184).