Papers by Elizabeth Deakin
Agricultural expansion has transformed and fragmented natural forest habitats at an alarming rate... more Agricultural expansion has transformed and fragmented natural forest habitats at an alarming rate, and dramatic increases in agricultural intensification have since taken place in order to keep pace with human population growth and food demands. This simultaneously poses a considerable threat to biodiversity in agricultural landscapes, as production land is now one of the largest terrestrial biomes on the planet. Therefore, its contribution to biodiversity conservation is critical. Links between the intensification of agricultural systems and 'in situ' declines of biodiversity on farmland have been well documented. However, despite growing recognition that system inputs such as fertiliser and livestock can move or 'spillover' into adjacent natural habitats, there has been no direct quantification of the extent of impacts in recipient ecosystems. These abiotic and biotic pathways can cause dramatic impacts on the diversity, composition, and functioning of remaining natural ecosystems, and on their ability to provide a variety of essential ecosystem services. Due to concerns regarding future food security, balancing trade-offs between agriculture and conservation has subsequently become a hot topic in ecological research. However, without any direct quantification of the off-site ecological impacts of agricultural intensification in mosaic landscapes, it is inherently difficult to fully evaluate strategies aimed at balancing production and conservation. Using New Zealand farming systems as a case study, this thesis aims to address gaps in our current understanding of how increasing agricultural intensification impacts biodiversity in native forest remnants embedded within production landscapes. The first main chapter explores whether the magnitude of ecological impact in forest remnants (for a suite of 26 response measures) and severity of edge effects, scale with the degree of land-use intensity in surrounding agricultural pastures. This chapter also examines whether ecological responses differ in remnants 'spared [...]
This research projects evaluates the social, environmental, and safety impacts of shared electric... more This research projects evaluates the social, environmental, and safety impacts of shared electric scooters (e-scooters)' through a literature review, a nationwide scan of state and local laws and regulations, and a case study of Oakland's experience with e-scooters, including an analysis of the city's user survey and our own in-depth interviews. E-scooters offer an enjoyable, low-cost travel option, but are used mainly by young, affluent, white males. To improve equity, cities are requiring e-scooter rental companies to serve low-income and minority communities and some further mandate that a share of the e-scooters accommodate people with disabilities. E-scooters are quiet and produce no tailpipe emissions, but their cumulative environmental impact depends on their manufacture, useful life, disposal, and use. In early applications, rental e-scooters survived less than a year. Some 30-50 percent of e-scooter trips replace short auto trips. Cities and states can improve e-scooter safety by encouraging helmet use, offering rider training, limiting speeds, improving pavements, managing parking, and calming traffic.
University of California Transportation Center, Sep 1, 2006
OECD eBooks, Nov 29, 2007
Transportation Research Record, 2005
Urban arterials are both promising and problematic locations for infill development and urban rev... more Urban arterials are both promising and problematic locations for infill development and urban revitalization. San Pablo Avenue, a multilane urban arterial traversing nine cities and two counties along the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in California, is considered here. The road developed over a long period: first as a streetcar line, then as an intercity automobile route, and most recently as a subregional traffic and transit route. Land uses from each of these transportation eras are still present along the avenue and range from neighborhood retail to automobile-oriented strip development. Recent transit service improvements and a strong housing market are leading to new developer interest in San Pablo Avenue. Findings are reported from interviews with 11 developers who recently built infill housing and mixed-use projects on or near the arterial. Developers see San Pablo Avenue's accessibility as a major asset but view transit services as a bonus instead of a necessity; transit availability allows developers to argue for reduced transportation impact fees and reduced parking requirements. Other aspects of the arterial's design, including high speeds and unattractive streetscapes, are problematic, as are zoning ordinances that require high parking ratios, large setbacks, and lengthy, discretionary approval processes. Small land parcels, incompatible adjacent uses, and high development costs are also drawbacks but, with creative development, are manageable. Local governments could provide incentives for private development along arterials such as San Pablo Avenue by improving street designs, reducing parking requirements, and updating zoning codes and approval processes.
Transportation Research Record, 2004
Findings are presented from a study of land use, parking, mode choice, and housing and jobs devel... more Findings are presented from a study of land use, parking, mode choice, and housing and jobs development in downtown Berkeley, California, a medium-sized city with 4 decades of experience with parking management and transit-oriented development. The multiple roles that parking management, including reduced parking requirements and parking pricing, can play in a downtown area are explored, as is the performance of transit-oriented development in smaller cities. Originally developed as a streetcar suburb, Berkeley has long supported high-quality transit, restricted parking, and walking and biking facilities. These practices have resulted in transit, walk, and bike usage far higher than U.S. averages. Nevertheless, in downtown Berkeley, traffic is heavy, parking is full, and concerns about infill development persist. Merchants are also concerned that parking constraints may limit economic development. Surveys of downtown shoppers, workers, and residents show that relatively few drive downtown. Workers and downtown residents make up a large share of downtown commercial enterprises' customers. Residents have intentionally chosen to live in a transit-and pedestrian-friendly area and own and use cars far less often than average. Parking shortages are caused in large part by overtime parking, facilitated by broken meters and by meter feeding by employees. Overall, transit-oriented development has been successful in reducing auto ownership and use, but it is accompanied by tight parking and a certain amount of congestion. Parking enforcement and better use of off-street spaces would relieve the former problem.
Transportation Research Record, 2015
This pilot study challenged two pieces of conventional wisdom related to transit-oriented develop... more This pilot study challenged two pieces of conventional wisdom related to transit-oriented development: (a) the popular but unproven principle of a 0.5-mi radius threshold and (b) its concentric circular shape. On the basis of a detailed literature review, the current research traced the origins of the ideas of a 0.5-mi radius and a 0.25-mi radius and explored the concept of acceptable access distance as an alternative to the current rule-of-thumb threshold distance. An acceptable walking distance was hypothesized to be positively influenced by microlevel walkability. A case study was undertaken to test the impact of microlevel walkability on the acceptable walking distance to a station. On the basis of a station user survey and walkability audit administered in the station area of Mountain View, California, a regression analysis was performed to estimate a transit user acceptable access walking distance. A second analysis was conducted to test the existence of a critical walkability zone in which microlevel walkability was more influential within the zone than outside it. Two access mode choice logit models were built with different sets of travelers selected on the basis of their home origins, and the explanatory powers of the two models were compared. On the basis of these two analyses, the major findings were the following: the acceptable walking distance to a station could be extended through improvements in the microlevel walkability along the major pedestrian corridors that led to the station and a donut-shaped critical walkability zone might exist.
Journal of Urban Economics, Nov 1, 2017
We examine the effects of Beijing's driving restrictions on individual travel behavior. The restr... more We examine the effects of Beijing's driving restrictions on individual travel behavior. The restrictions prohibit drivers from using their vehicles one weekday per week on the basis of the license plate number. Using the 2010 Beijing Household Travel Survey data, we find that driving restrictions have significant effects on auto trip frequency and thus vehicle miles traveled, suggesting substitution toward other modes. We also find evidence of the differential effects across subgroups of drivers. This suggests a variation in willingness to pay for auto use, which is not addressed by the restrictions. Three adaptation mechanisms-substitution toward unrestricted hours/days, having access to an unrestricted vehicle, and noncompliance-have been at work that mitigate the policy's effect. Driving restrictions cause more congestion on days that restrict plates ending in "4" (an unlucky number) and thus have an unanticipated consequence on non-drivers, who reduce their trips on such days.
University of California Transportation Center, Sep 1, 2006
University of California Transportation Center, Sep 1, 2006
Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Feb 1, 2019
Governance-the way rules are set and implemented-in many institutions is sustained through the se... more Governance-the way rules are set and implemented-in many institutions is sustained through the service of groups of individuals, performing low-promotability tasks. For instance, the success of not-for-profit professional societies, civic organizations, and public universities depends on the willingness of members and employees to serve in governance. Typically service is requested by annual calls to serve. We implement and analyze a field experiment at a large public university using a randomized experimental design, to investigate whether responses to calls to serve are affected by revealing a department's service rankings among its peer departments. We find that revealing a service ranking in the lowest quartile leads to significantly higher response rates than disclosing a median and higher-than-median ranking. Second, beyond informing department heads of their departments' service rank, directly informing individual faculty members does not have an additional effect on response rates. Third, we show that the treatment effects in the lowest serving quartile are driven by female faculty responses, even though female faculty members were no more likely than their male peers to respond to serve before the experiment. If taking on such tasks is detrimental to promotion, while important for the overall institution, this has implications for the faculty careers of women and men. Given our data we cannot identify potential mechanisms behind the results; formally testing these mechanisms is an area for future research.
RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, Feb 8, 2016
We implement a field experiment at a U.S. university to identify the effect of revealing peers' r... more We implement a field experiment at a U.S. university to identify the effect of revealing peers' rank, in terms of previous voluntary service, on future voluntary service of individual faculty members. We find that revealing a service ranking in the lowest quartile leads to significantly higher response rates than disclosing a median quartile ranking. Beyond informing the department head, sending a direct email to individuals does not have an incremental effect on average voluntary service responses, though it causes significantly higher new response. Finally, we find the above effects are driven by male responses.
Case studies on transport policy, Sep 1, 2020
Health impact assessment (HIA) has been a means through which the public health profession has ... more Health impact assessment (HIA) has been a means through which the public health profession has expanded its set of concerns to include transportation, rather than a learning process from within the transportation profession. HIAs sometimes seek to influence decisions, but they also provide information, express community support, build capacity, and serve as a planning tool. The future of HIA practice in public health and transportation could build on the HIA's adaptability to the local decision-making context, and embrace its various forms of informal policy influence.
Case studies on transport policy, Aug 1, 2023
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Papers by Elizabeth Deakin
High Speed Rail and Sustainability explores the environmental, economic and social effects of developing a HSR system, presenting new evaluations of the proposed system in California in the US as well as lessons from international experience. Drawing upon the accumulated experience from past HSR system development around the world, leading experts present a diverse set of perspectives as well as diverse contexts of implementation. Assessments of the California case as well as cases from Japan, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Taiwan, China, and the UK show how governments and stakeholders have bridged the gap between the vision and the realities of connecting metropolitan regions through HSR.
This is a valuable resource for academics, researchers and policy-makers in the areas of urban planning, civil engineering, transportation and environmental design.