End of term test - plan105

Question 1

What is planning (what do planners do)

Answer 1

• is forward looking – developing long term strats
• Is responsive to social, economic and environmental change
• Seeks balance between different and often competing interests
• Scientific: reason, systematic approach
• Aestetic: vissually appealing
• Orderly: implies planned approach
• Disposition: arrangement or placing, regualtion, management

Question 2

Why are planning problems challenging?

Answer 2

planning problems are wicked problems rather than durable problems

Question 3

Analysis as a process: what are the linkages between complex and dynamic social, environmental, and economic systems?

Answer 3

They include interlinked “social” systems and “ecological” or “natural” systems. As you will learn in the section, the different components of these systems are complex, integrated systems composed of human society, economy, and a biological ecology.

Question 4

Nomothetic vs. Idiographic

Answer 4

• Nomothetic: some sub systems of our communities can be analyzed using modified versions of the scientific method
  
  • Nomothetic: aim to develop generalizable laws or knowledge
    ○ Develop hypothesis
    ○ Prove or disprove hypothesis
    ○ Create/modify theory or develop new hypothesis
  • Idiographic: focus on understanding issues based on unique aspects of induviduals
    ○ Aim to explain why an induvidual develops/behaves as it does

Question 5

Quantitative Data

Answer 5

• Quantitative: data that results form measuring…
  ○ A stable and measurable reality
  ○ Objective, structured and replicable
  ○ For prediction, verification, hypothesis testing
  ○ Can generalize results from samples
  ○ Questions of “how much”, “how many” and “strength of relationship”

Question 6

Qualitative data

Answer 6

• Qualitative: data that result from recording different qualities, classes, categories, or descriptions
  ○ Dynamic and negotiated reality
  ○ Sujective, unstructured and conditional
  ○ Seeks to understand human behaviour from their perspective
  ○ Generalizing findings to other case studies is not possible usually
  ○ Often answers “why”

Question 7

what are measurement scales

Answer 7

• Nomina
  ○ Qualitative or categorical classing
  ○ Lowest scale measurement
• Ordinal
  ○ Nominal characteristics, plus values can be rank ordered
• Interval
  ○ All of ordinal, plus interval (differences) between values can be measured
  ○ Zero value is arbitraty
• Ratio
  ○ All of interval, plus zero value has a physical meaning

Question 8

primary vs. secondary data

Answer 8

• Primary Data: Data observed or collected by you-yourself for a specific purpose in mind
  
  • Secondary data: observed or collected by others and or for a reason that differs from your desired use
    ○ Eg. Canadian census, survey data, etc

Question 9

what are common data sources and what are the pros and cons of each

Answer 9

• External
  ○ Federal and provincial organizations, non-government organizations
  
  • Internal
    ○ Reports, studies, analysis, city operations
  • Citizens and communtity organizations
  • Strong linkages between problem type, stage of planning process, and data needs

Question 10

why do we need effective communication in planning

Answer 10

• Planning issues are multi-facited and complex
• Graphical displays can convey these complex ideas
• Poor graphical displays can contribute to uncertainty
• Tech is an aid to judgement and expertise
• The best graphic is self explanatory

Question 11

what are the basic design principles by edward tufte

Answer 11

1. Show the data
   - Let the data be the focus, nit the visualization method
   
   2. Induce the viewer to think about the substance rather than about methodology, graphic design, the technology of graphic production or something else
   3. Avoid distorting what the data has to sat
   4. Present many numbers in a small space
   5. Make large data sets coherent
   6. Encourage the eye to compare different pieces of data
   7. Reveal the data at several levels of detail, from a broad overview to the fine structure
      
      • The graphics tell the story bit by bit
   8. Serve a reasonably clear porpose: description, exploration, tabulation, or decoration
   9. Closely integrate the statistical and verbal descriptions of a data set

Question 12

what is design for humans

Answer 12

• Trial and error / research on how people interpret visual communication
• Abilities vary from person to person
  § Cognitive skills
  § Physical characteristics (eg.visual acuity)
  § Socio-cultural norms
  □ Eg. Colour meanings
• Consider how the human mind has evolved

Question 13

what are best practices for charts and quantifying value in general?

Answer 13

• Kiss - simplicity =clarity = understanding
  - Resist using 3D and other visual clutter
  - Use clear language and avoid acronyms
  
  • Graphs and tables work together
    
    • Tabels should present only the data used in the chart
    • Graph should tell a story without a great deal of explanatory text
  • Figures/graphics complement each other
    
    • Explain key results from the table, graph, or diagram
      The table/figure provides detail; your writing focuses on the big picture - the key results

Question 14

what are the key concepts of demography

Answer 14

• study of a population structure
  
  • Four primary demogpahic questions
    ○ How large or small is the pop
    ○ How is pop composed or what are the characteristics
    ○ How is the pop distributed
    ○ How has it changed over time
• The scientific study of the size, composition, and spatial distribution of human populations
  ○ The changes that occur in these phenomena via fertiltoy, motality, and migration processes
  ○ Slow changing processes - fertility, mortality
  ○ Potentially faster - migraation and immigration
  ○ Time and spatial scale - considerations for population change

Question 15

what is a dependancy ratio

Answer 15

The dependency ratio relates the number of children (0-14. years old) and older persons (65 years or over) to the working-age population (15-64 years old).
The dependency ratio is a demographic measure of the ratio of the number of dependents to the total working-age population in a country or region. This indicator paints a picture of the make-up of a population compared to its workforce and can shed light on the tax implications of dependency.

Question 16

what is demographic change

Answer 16

• Demographic change (counts, compostition) influence many aspects of planning
  ○ Infastucture demands
  ○ Service demands
  ○ Income inequality
  ○ Social cohersial
  ○ Land use planning and forcasts for land use demand
  ○ Economic development
  
  • Impacts on urban reform, land use, distribution, site and building design
    ○ Acticve families
    ○ Independent seniors
    ○ Supportive living

Question 17

what is population change

Answer 17

• Forcasting pop. Change a foundational activity
  -silber tsunami - you can see it coming
• differs from demographic change as it is more so qualitative rather than quantitative
• population is the number of people in an area and the demographic looks at the makeup of these people.

Question 18

what is qualitative and quantitative forecasting

Answer 18

Qualittavive
1. Market research
○ Panels, questionaires, test markets, surveys, etc
○ Wisdom of the masses? More prediction than forecast
2. Expert judgement
3. Dephi method
4. Product life-cycle analogy
- Forcastes use life-cycles of similar products, services, or processes
- Assumes regular and predicable life

Quantiatvive
- Time series forecasting
- Set of observations measured at successive times of periods. Assumes past patterns in data can be used to forecast future data points

Question 19

explain what regression is

Answer 19

Regression based forecasting
- Relates a response (dependant) variable to one or more explanatory (independent) vaiables that are beieved to influence the response variable
- Goal is to quantify the relationship between the response and explanatory variables
- Regression can be also used for prediction
- will look to see if any changes in the dependant variable are associated with one or more of the explanatory variables

• the regression equation is…
  predicted value = intercept + regression coefficient * independent variable.

Question 20

socio economic census data - compare and contrast

Answer 20

data about humans, human activities, and the space or structure used to conduct human activities such as different demographic features (age, sex, ethnicity, lanuage, housing, income, etc)

Question 21

how do you create effective graphics

Answer 21

• Fieck does’t like pie charts
  
  • Pie charts:
    
    • Only 3 to 5 catagorys
    • Never 3D
    • Only use to illustate % of a whole
  • Simple bar graph
    
    • Good for comparing values and catagorical variables
  • Grouped bar graph
  • Line graph
    
    • Suitable for showing changes over time

Question 22

what are GIS

Answer 22

• Functional: a powerful set of tools for collecting, storing, retrieving, and at will, transforming and displaying spatial data from the real world
  
  • Database/information system: a geographic information system (gis) can be defined as a computer application capable of performing virtually and conceivable operation on geographic information, from axquistion and compilation through visualization, query, and analysis to modeling, sharing, and archiving
  • Scinetific questions regarding space and time representation. GIS important vehicle to enable other scientific persuits

Question 23

Why is a spatial perspective valuable

Answer 23

• Spatial interrelationships between natural, social, econimic, and polictcal ‘landscapes” are central
  ○ Natural resource mgmt. and protection
  ○ Ecology
  ○ Transportation and infrastructure planning
  ○ Health
  ○ Energy policy and planning
  ○ Public safety, etc.
• Idea of concepts similar to “not in my backyard”
• People want to be close to certain things and further from others
• Planning is inherently spatial
  ○ Creating places, resolving land use conflicts, understanding form and function
• Phenomena considered in planning typically have 3 dimensions
  ○ Attribute (characteristics, variables)
  ○ Temporal (date, time)
  ○ Spatial (location)
• In spatial analysis, we analyze why not only what things are at location, but also how location explains activity, process, and outcomes
• Geographic info links a place, and often a time with some properties of that place

Question 24

vector data models

Answer 24

• Vector:
  ○ Points, lines, and areas spatial features are used to represent real world objects
  ○ Point:
  § A location defined by a pair of x,y coordinates
  
  • Lines (polyline)
    ○ A linear feature defined by ordered set of x,y coord pairs that are logically connected
    ○ Node - a point that starts or ends a line feature
    ○ Vertex - a point that define the shape of a line
  • Polygons (areas)
    ○ An enclosed area defined by the lines that make up its boundary
  • Vector spatial layers have characteristics stored on a database table
    ○ The attributes of each spatial feature (point, line, or polygon) are stored in a row in an associated table

Question 25

what are georefrenceing concepts

Answer 25

• Georefrencing: methods to accuratly link geographic features to locations at or near the earths surface
  
  • Common types of geoprefrences
    ○ Place names
    ○ Postal cides
    ○ Linear refrences
    ○ Coordinates

Georefrences as measurements
- Some are only nomial
- Some are based on some form of ordering
- Some georefrecnes are metric (interval)

Georefrencing and GIS
- Considering latitude and longeture
○ Comprehensive
○ Persistent
○ Uniqueness: no duplicate locations
○ Metric: allows distance and bearing

Question 26

what are basic cartographic concepts

Answer 26

scale, projection, spatial relationship, generalization, symbolization, and data modeling

Question 27

what are choropleth maps and the different data classification methods associated

Answer 27

• A thematic map in which areas are distinctly colored or shaded relative to the value of a variable
  
  • Widely used
    ○ easy to create
    ○ can be easy to interpret (and to misinterpret!)
  • Data are aggregated to areal units
    ○ Typically, political or administrative areas such as census tracts, counties, health unit zones
    ○ Choice of areal unit is critical
    § Different patterns may emerge as:
    □ spatial unit size changes or
    □ space is subdivided in different ways
    ○ Potential for misinterpretation
    § Data often assumed to be distributed uniformly across a single spatial unit
    Large units can dominate the perceived pattern

Question 28

what is classification of data

Answer 28

the process of organizing data by relevant categories so that it may be used more efficently

Question 29

what is querying of data

Answer 29

• The linkages between spatial features (points, lines, areas, grid cells) and attributes allows:
  ○ Attributes queries that use the characteristics of spatial features
  ○ Vector data: attributes are stored in associate database table
  Spatial queries: use geographic relationships between spatial features

Question 30

what is formative evaluation

Answer 30

Fomative: intend to strengthen/improve the object being evaluated
- Process oriented
- Efficiency focus
- Streghten the plan being evaluated in that they for it by examining…
- Program delievery
- Qualtiy of implementation
- Organizational cintext, personnel, and procedures
- Used to refine the process, give feedback early in implementation proccess
- Includes:
- Needs assessment: determines who needs the program, how great the need is, and what might work to meet the need
- Evaluability assessment: determines wheather an evaluation is feasible and how stakeholders can help shape its usefulness
- Sturctured conceptualization: helps stakeholders define the program or technology, the target population, and the possible outcomes
§ How should national development progress be monitired and evaluated
§ Need for stakeholder buy-in
- Implementation evaluation
- Monitors the fidelity of the program r technology delivery
- Process evaluation
§ Invesitagtes the process of deleivering the program or tech, including alt delivery procdedures

Question 31

what is summative evaluation

Answer 31

Summative evaluations, in contrast examine the outcomes and/or effects of a given object
- Examine the outcomes and/or effects of a plan - they summarize it by
- Describing what happens after the delivery of the program
- If goals and objectives have been met as intended
- Determining associated causal effects
- Estimating the relative costs
- Outcome evaluations: investigate wheather the program or tech caused deonstrable effects on specifically defined target outcomes
- Impact evaluation: broader and assess the overall or net effects
- Cost-effectoveness and cost-benefit analysis: adress questions of efficency by standardizing outcomes in terms of their dollar costs and values

Question 32

what is monitoring

Answer 32

ongoing collection and analysis of data about trends and activites that could affect the plans performance

Question 33

what are indicators

Answer 33

• Indicators: provide quantitive and/or qualitive data that demonstrates trends and patterns

Question 34

what are data-centric/smart cities

Answer 34

• Evidence-based or data-driven approaches to urban management
  
  • Many smart city projects
    
    • Sector-specific iniatives
    • Few ground up smart cities
  • Opperational efficiency driven by high resolution data streams
    New Data Sources
  • “instrumentation of cities” and citizens
  • Massive amounts of hyper-local time-stamped data
    
    • Stationary sensors
    • Mobile sensors
  • Big data is often the “exhaust” of other processes
    
    • Repurposed for analysis

Question 35

what are some characteristics of a wicked problem

Answer 35

1. there is no definitive formulation of a wicked problem
2. wicked problems have no stopping rule
3. solutions to wicked problems and not true or false, but good or bad
4. there is no immediate and no ultimate test of a solution to a wicked problem
5. no opertunity to trial and error a solution to a wicked problem
6. do not have a discriptable set of potential solutions
7. every wicked problem is unique
8. every wicked problem can be considered a symptom of another problem
9. The existence of a discrepancy representing a wicked problem can be explained in
   numerous ways. The choice of explanation determines the nature of the problem’s
   resolution
10. the planner has no right to be wrong

Question 36

3 key challenges planners need to confront

Answer 36

demographic change, climate change, urbanization impacts

Question 37

explain the sand wars thing

Answer 37

• we are running out of sand as cities are growing faster than ever before
  -stripping river beds which is killing everything that was there
  -islands are disapperaring and countries are banned from giving singapore sand
• it is causing a huge black market
• if we continue to consume sand at the rate that we do
  ○ The price will increase - supply and demand
  ○ People will have to get by however they can
  ○ People will start using cheaper sand that is not regulation, cutting corners creates real danger (ie. Earthquake example)
• parrallel to the oil industry
  -We have built civilaization of fundamental things such as sand and oil and now we are dependant and it will be incredibly diffcult to change that.

Question 38

summarize hartt and woudsma article on assessing population projection menthods in canada

Answer 38

• population projections inform decsions at the local, reigonal, provincal, and national scale
• at national and provincial scale cohort component methods are used
• they are expensive, time consuming, difficult, specific
• tend to capture migratory comonenets
• at the local and regional scale linar exploration or share capture models are more practical
• they are less expensive, easy to explain, and less timely
• do not rely on raw data
• migration should not be overlooked in smaller communities.

Question 39

summarize what the vancover growth projections are like

Answer 39

• a long range of projections of population, dwelling unit, and employment for the next 30 years
• covid had impacts on short term regional population growth, spending, imigration levels, and labour force
• economy is rebouding since initial shock
• projections are not static but evolve over time
• projections are crucial for utility, transportation, housing, and other forms of long-range planning

Question 40

summarize the longley article on GIS

Question 41

what are the promises and failures of utopian technological planning according to albert, s.

Answer 41

• divert attention away from challenges of urbanization such as poverty and housing security
• need community engagement to promote inclusion
• lack of affordable housing for highway builders promoted sprawl
• faults of exclusion, segregation, and persecution
• when too much communication happens on internet people get lonely
• data privacy concerns
• future cities need intelligent design achieved through collaboration and inclusion

Question 42

raster data model

Answer 42

• Covers space with a matrix of regualar cells or pixels
  
  • Cells typically square; can be other space-filling shapes
  • Raster is used to represent phenomena that
    ○ Do not have distinct boundaries
    ○ Can be measured everywhere (in theory at least)
    ○ Eg. Continuous surfaces (eg. Elevation, noise) or thematic data (eg. Land use cover, soil types)

Raster layers
- Spaital alignment of grid cells - permits spatial queries and data integration
- Concepts - rsater attributes
○ Row and column structure allows a single attribute value (usually) to be coded in each cell
○ Values can be
§ Integer or real to indicate a measurable quantity or intensity
§ Integers that represents categorical data
- Raster structure
○ Cell size, representation and processing relationships

Question 43

comparison of raster and vector data model

Answer 43

Rasters
* are exhaustive
* Only store coords. for grid corners
* Discrete objects are represented as collections of one or more cells
* Vectors
* store only objects of interest, rest of study area is ‘empty’
* “Exact” locations (coordinates) are stored
* Choice of spatial feature type depends on real world object, scale, and type of analysis