T2P (Transit-to-Parks) and M2P (Multimodal access to parks)
- Wang, Y., Park, K., & Mau, K. H. (2025). Access for whom? Inequality and inequity in multi-modal accessibility to large parks. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 113, 129124. DOI · download
- Wang, Y., Rigolon, A., & Park, K. (2024). Transit to parks initiatives in the U.S. and Canada: Practitioners’ perspectives. Transport Policy 154: 84-95. DOI · download
- Rigolon, A., Park, K., Choi, D., & Wang, Y. (2024). Riding transit to parks in Utah: Motivations, constraints, negotiations, and policy recommendations. Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment 133: 104297. DOI · download
- Park, K., Rigolon, A., Choi, D., Lyons, T., & Brewer, S. (2021). Transit to parks: An environmental justice study of transit access to large parks in the U.S. West. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening 60: 127055. DOI · download
More details on publications, project reports, and presentations: Transit-to-Parks Project Page.
SWAN-Climate
SWAN-Climate is a collaborative, cross-national research project that explores how older adults and people with disabilities in climate-vulnerable neighbourhoods 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.
Public spaces along shorelines: Mixed methods analyses of accessing, using, and experiencing urban beaches and waterfronts
- 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.
- 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.
- Identify the motivations, constraints, and resulting negotiated usage of urban blue spaces by various user groups.
- Determine the multidimensional accessibility of beaches and waterfronts, by combining physical accessibility metrics (number of access points, ramps, nearby bus stops, etc.) with visual accessibility (access to the view of water) and haptic accessibility (access to touching water).
- 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.).
- 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
This NSERC-funded research is the foundation of Mingze Chen’s doctoral dissertation, Monitoring and Analyzing Human-Nature Interaction through Sensor and Vision Technologies – three studies that move from counting presence and movement with low-cost sensors to interpreting activity and meaning with vision-language models, across a decade of Vancouver.
Research objectives: 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 a UAV flight system; 3) Estimate visitor volume and movements from the collected longitudinal data using spatiotemporal models. This grant lays the foundation for UNDER Lab’s long-term vision to provide urban forestry planning and design with novel monitoring tools, models, and data that are informative, cost-effective, and accessible to all.
Full dissertation overviewMonitoring & Analyzing Human-Nature Interaction through Sensor and Vision TechnologiesThe intellectual lineage (Lynch, Jacobs, Gehl, Whyte), the four dimensions of human-nature interaction, and the through-line connecting all three studies – from monitoring to analyzing.Open the overview →Natural space and health equity: Who benefits, why, and how?
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 a mixed-methods approach – 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 on 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
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 framework is then used to examine the effect of mainstream community planning practices and policies on individuals with disabilities’ community participation (intervention efficacy research).
- 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. [Editors’ Choice] DOI · 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. DOI · download