Fast Fact Library

Researchers studying a Toronto pilot project found that installing a bike lane and removing 136 on-street parking spaces improved the business environment for establishments along the corridor. The number of...

Arancibia, Daniel, Steven Farber, Beth Savan, Yvonne Verlinden, Nancy Smith Lea, Jeff Allen, and Lee Vernich. “Measuring the Local Economic Impacts of Replacing On-Street Parking With Bike Lanes.” Journal of the American Planning Association 85, no. 4 (2019): 463–81. https://doi.org/10.1080/01944363.2019.1638816

Level of residential neighborhood greenness is associated with less problematic behavior in children, particularly aggressive behaviors and attention problems, according to a study of 1,817 South Korean...

Lee, Mihye, Suejin Kim, and Mina Ha. “Community greenness and neurobehavioral health in children and adolescents” Science of The Total Environment 672 (2019): 381-388. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.03.454.

High-quality visible vegetation, such as that seen through a window at home or at work, can provide relief from noise annoyance (feelings of displeasure with unwanted noise) with a similar effect to reducing noise...

Van Renterghem, Timothy. “Towards explaining the positive effect of vegetation on the perception of environmental noise.” Urban Forestry & Urban Greening 40 (2019): 133-144. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2018.03.007.

According to a review of studies on park size and urban cooling effect, large urban parks with an area of more than 10 hectares (24.7 acres) provide the highest-intensity cooling effect as well cooling over the...

Aram, Farshid, Ester Higueras García, Ebrahim Solgi, and Soran Mansournia. “Urban green space cooling effect in cities.” Heliyon 5, Issue 4 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2019.e01339.

A study of the 30 largest metropolitan areas in the United States found that walkable urban places (places developed for walkability and without prioritizing automobiles), perform better economically than sprawling...

Hadden Loh, Tracy, Christopher B. Leinberger, and Jordan Chafetz. Foot Traffic Ahead. New York: Smart Growth America and the George Washington University School of Business, 2019. https://smartgrowthamerica.org/resources/foot-traffic-ahead-2019/?download=yes&key=46188795