TITLE:
An Indicator Model of the Spatial Quantification and Pattern Analysis of Urban Sustainability: A Case Study of Cincinnati, Ohio
AUTHORS:
Gökçer Okumuş, David J. Edelman
KEYWORDS:
Urban Sustainability, Urbanization and Quality of Life, Indicator Model, GIS, Spatial Pattern Analysis, Spatial Autocorrelation, Cincinnati
JOURNAL NAME:
Current Urban Studies,
Vol.3 No.3,
September
4,
2015
ABSTRACT: Shen & Guo (2014) have recently developed an array of urban sustainability indicators (USIs) as a
tool to measure urban sustainability. Using 2006 data for Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, they
developed a theoretical integrated USI model with a hierarchical index system, to spatially monitor
urban sustainability using geo-matic approaches and further statistically detect its spatial
patterns. The purpose of this study is to apply Shen and Guo’s general approach to a major American
city, Cincinnati, Ohio, utilizing U.S. census data from 2010, to test its utility beyond the original
Canadian test case. In doing so, the model and its indicator structure were modified for the American
context after a further review of sustainability indicators. Unlike Shen and Guo, however, the
model is not subjectively weighted. Nevertheless, the revised model similarly applied both statistical
analysis and geo-statistical analysis to explore how urban sustainability was spatially distributed
and what spatial patterns (random, dispersed or clustered) for the indices could be found
among Cincinnati’s census tracts. This work confirms Shen and Guo’s conclusion that geo-matic
tools can be applied to detect spatially urban sustainability patterns, which can be provided visually
for urban planners, managers and administrators for use in future policy making and implementation.