Projects

SWAN-Climate

  • Project Overview:
    SWAN-Climate is a collaborative, cross-national research project that explores how older adults and people with disabilities in climate-vulnerable neighborhoods experience and adapt to extreme heat. With case study sites in Metro Vancouver, the United Kingdom, and Germany, the project examines the intersection of urban heat, mobility, and the built environment. 
    Using mixed methods, SWAN-Climate captures real-time environmental data alongside participants’ lived experiences. Recognizing that climate change disproportionately affects equity-seeking populations, the project aims to inform inclusive, age-friendly, and climate-resilient approaches to urban planning, public health, and adaptation policy. 
  • Sponsor/funding program: Simon Fraser University and University of British Columbia, Faculty of Forestry 
  • Period: 2025–2026
  • Research team:
    • Canada (Metro Vancouver): Dr. Atiya Mahmood (Principal Investigator, SFU), Dr. Keunhyun Park (Co-Investigator, UBC) 
    • Project Coordinator: Leticia Zhu (SFU) 
    • Research Assistants: Sasha Rodriguez (UBC), Yiyang Wang (UBC),  Cindy Wei (SFU) 
    • Germany (Frankfurt): Dr. Frank Oswald, Simone Niedoba, Luisa Bischoff (Co-Investigators, Goethe University Frankfurt); 
    • United Kingdom: Dr. Jennifer Lay (Co-Investigator, University of Exeter), Dr. Razieh Zandieh (Co-Investigator, University of Manchester);
  • Collaborators: Vancouver Coastal Health, Silver Harbour Seniors Centre, City of Vancouver, City of North Vancouver 

Rethinking Park Accessibility

Transit-to-Parks: Evaluating public transit connections to regional parks and greenways

  • Sponsor/funding program: SSHRC Partnership Engage Grant, Utah Transit Authority (UTA), UBC Hampton Grant, UBC Sustainability Scholars Program
  • Period: 2021-ongoing 
  • Research team: Keunhyun Park (Principal Investigator on UBC grants), Alessandro Rigolon (the University of Utah, Principal Investigator on the UTA grant), Yiyang Wang (PhD student)
    • Past research assistants: Paul Liu (Research Assistant), Tony Jiang (Research Assistant), Daniella Jialu Zhang, Xiaofan Shen (Research Assistant)
  • Collaborators: Metro Vancouver, TransLink, Utah Transit Authority
  • Link to an interactive web map of Transit-to-Parks initiatives in Canada and the U.S.
  • Publications
  • More details regarding publications, project reports, and presentations can be accessed through [Transit-to-Parks Project Page].

Multi-Modal Transport Challenges in Metro Vancouver

  • Sponsor/funding program: Translink New Mobility Grant, NSERC Alliance Grant
  • Period: 2023-ongoing  
  • Research team: Keunhyun Park (Principal Investigator on UBC grants), Yiyang Wang (Ph.D. student), Kai Hei Mau (Research Assistant) 
  • Collaborators: Metro Vancouver, TransLink

Public spaces along shorelines: Mixed methods analyses of accessing,
using, and experiencing urban beaches and waterfronts

  • Sponsor/funding program: SSHRC Insight Development Grant, UBC Four-year Doctoral Fellowship
  • Period: 2022-2026 
  • Research team: Keunhyun Park (Principal Investigator), Asim Khanal (PhD student)
  • Collaborators: Lorien Nesbitt (UBC), Angela Rout (TU Delft), Metro Vancouver, Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation
  • Research objectives:
    • 1) Provide a comprehensive literature review of urban blue space usage, including types of spaces, types of data and indicators used to understand their use patterns, and groups utilizing these spaces.
    • 2) Propose a conceptual framework that summarizes the factors associated with the use of urban blue-green spaces, or the visits to urban beaches and waterfronts.
    • 3) Identify the motivations, constraints, and resulting negotiated usage of urban blue spaces by various user groups.
    • 4) Determine the multidimensional accessibility of beaches and waterfronts, by combining physical accessibility metrics (such as the number of access points, availability of ramps, number of nearby bus stops, etc.), with visual accessibility (i.e., access to the view of water), and haptic accessibility (i.e., access to touching water).
    • 5) Understand the relationships between the multidimensional accessibility to urban blue spaces and the surrounding neighborhoods’ socio-demographic characteristics (e.g., SES, race/ethnicity, indigeneity, residency status, etc.).
    • 6) Explore the correlation between user volumes in urban blue spaces and their multidimensional accessibility.

Developing automated visitor monitoring tools for better management of urban nature 

  1. Sponsor/funding program: NSERC Discovery Grant 
  2. Period: 2022-2027 
  3. Research team: Keunhyun Park (Principal Investigator), Mingze Chen (Research Assistant)
  4. Collaborators: TBD 
  5. Research objectives: The short-term objectives are 1) Develop reliable and valid visitor monitoring tools in parks and greenways using WiFi sensors, 2) Automate the behaviour mapping process in parks and greenways, using a combination of WiFi sensor data and UAV flight system, and 3) (using the collected longitudinal data) Estimate visitor volume and movements, using spatiotemporal models. This grant will lay the foundation for achieving UNDER Lab’s long-term research vision to provide urban forestry planning and design with novel monitoring tools, models, and data, which are informative, cost-effective, and accessible to all.

Natural space and health equity: Who benefits: Why and How?

  • Sponsor/funding program: UBC Four-year Doctoral Fellowship, UBC Forestry internal funding
  • Period: 2021-ongoing
  • Research team: Everly Jazi (Principal Investigator), Keunhyun Park (Supervisor)  
  • Collaborators: Matilda van den Bosch (Barcelona Institute for Global Health; European Forest Institute), Margarita Triguero-Mas (Open University of Catalonia), Michael Meitner (UBC)
  • Research objectives: This project investigates the impact of urban nature on psychological wellbeing and examines whether exposure to natural environments can help reduce health disparities between marginalized and advantaged populations. Using mixed-methods approach such as Bayesian statistical modeling, qualitative focus groups, and epidemiological observational methods with primary survey data, the project assesses the potential for nature to disrupt health inequities, either independently or in conjunction with other social determinants of health. Everly Jazi (PI) and fellow researchers apply novel methodologies and frameworks that build upon a robust body of existing research, advancing our understanding of nature’s role in promoting health and wellbeing for all.    

A Socio-Ecologic Framework Supporting Individuals with Disabilities’ Community Living and Participation 

  • Sponsor/funding program: National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research  
  • Period: 2019-2025 
  • Research team: Keith Christensen (Utah State University, Principal Investigator), Keunhyun Park (Co-Investigator), Brent Chamberlain (Co-Investigator), Ziqi Song (Co-Investigator), J.C. Sheen (Co-Investigator), Carlos Licon (Co-Investigator), etc.  
  • Collaborators: Wasatch Front Regional Council, Independent Living Centers in Utah
  • Research objectives: This research project aims to develop a socio-ecologic framework describing the physical environmental factors associated with individuals with disabilities’ community participation (intervention development research). This socio-ecologic framework will be used to examine the effect of mainstream community planning practices and policies on individuals with disabilities’ community participation (intervention efficacy research).
  • Publications
    • Park, K., Nasr-Isfahani, H., Novack, V., Sheen, J., Hadayeghi, H., Song, Z., & Christensen, K. (2023). Impacts of disability on daily travel behaviour: A systematic review. Transport Reviews 43(2): 178-203. https://doi.org/10.1080/01441647.2022.2060371 [The Editors’ Choice] [download]
    • Park, K., Chamberlain, B., Song, Z., Nasr-Isfahani, H., Sheen, J., Larsen, T., Novack, V., Licon, C., & Christensen, K. (2022). A double jeopardy: COVID-19 impacts on people with disabilities’ travel behavior and community living. Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice 156: 24-35. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tra.2021.12.008 [download]