Urban Planning GIS Kaloyan P. Karamitov
CONTENT
Academic 02 Evaluation of the Built Environment and Pedestrian Accessibility 12 Priority Initiatives for Turning Kapana into Creative District 18 Crime Prevention through Urban Planning Professional 20 Targeted Investment Program to support the development of unfavoured areas of Bulgaria 22 Comprehensive Planning 24 Evaluation of location sites for new bus terminal in Burgas 26 One Architecture Week Initiatives 28 Association of Bulgarian Planning Students Competitions 30 Green Burgas
Academic
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Evaluation of the Built Environment and Pedestrian Accessibility Analysis of walking time and ease of access to core urban services, followed by specification of areas with priority measures for more walkable and pedestrian friendly city. The growth of the urban population and cities continues to put pressure not only on the surrounding environment but also on the urban life. The economic prosperity, as long as the opportunities of expressing the self and creating professional and personal connections are the main force that attracts people in the cities. It is important, on regional level, proper policies for decentralization to be implemented, so the largest and most powerful cities to slow down the process of overcrowding. On the other hand, the growing cities should catch up on their population growth and improve the quality of their built environment. At the forefront is the use of open space which is strongly related to the way of moving around the city. Apparently, the population increase goes hand by hand with increased transportation but also with the need of space between the buildings in order a good urban atmosphere to be supported. The balance use of different transport systems with regard to the length and the cause of the trip is beneficial for the city and the health of the population. Aiming for more non-motorised trips on smaller distances with combination of public transport for the long ones proved to be successful for reducing the car use and bringing back the streets to the people. In the thesis I develop a methodology for analyzing the urban environment and pedestrian accessibility in Sofia, using GIS (Geographic Information System) tools, in order to discover differences in the residential areas and to establish different priorities for the various areas. The indicators which I consider are the available public transport infrastructure and its quality, the proximity to parks, services and shops, street and pedestrian alley network.
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4 Access to subway stops - Network Analysis
One of the GIS tools I used is the Network Analysis (NA). It analyses the relationship between elements on a network. I used the street network data from Open Street Maps, corrected it and created a network dataset. The first map visualizes the service area of subway stops Population density visualization of Sofia
Access to subway stops - Buffer Analysis
of 400m and 800m, representing 5 and 10 min walks. The NA takes into account physical barriers such as buildings and missing street segments and shows a real world situation. The second map shows the Buffer Analysis’ (BA) 400m and 800m circles around the stops. Concentration of businesses
Comparison of the two analyses
The third map visualizes the difference between the simple BA and the more precise NA. Many buildings which appear in the buffers are left out of the service area. This answers if an estimation of the use of new subway line fails to meet the preliminary figures.
The map identifies clusters of businesses and shows the areas with concentration of specific services. It is used to find certain missing services in the neighborhoods and plan to develop them to be reachable without using vehicles.
5 Access to public transport stops - Network Analysis
Access to parks - Network Analysis
Service area of the parks also shows good coverage of the city and the next step is to analyze their condition and need of reconstruction.
Buildings density - Reach 400m The NA is used to define service area for all public transport stops which includes bus, tram, trolley and subway. The analysis shows good allocation. Further analysis of the frequency and the vehicles’ physical condition is needed.
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Space Syntax’s Integration analysis of every street segment with all others in radius N showing the best integrated on global urban level.
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Space Syntax’s Integration analysis of every street segment with the surroundings in radius 400m showing the best integrated on local level and potential active areas.
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10 According to the values of the research indicators, 4 groups were established - Integrated, Isolated, Various and High-rises. Each group faces different problems and I proposed different priority measures which should be targeted first in order a pedestrian friendly environment to be created.
Curb extension for more pedestrian friendly environment and optimal street use.
Defined 4 types of areas with different priorities
11 Integrated Area Street and alley network Public spaces Public transport Activities
sidewalk maintenance curb extensions improving the condition of the routs to parks improving routs condition to public transport stops creating complete bike network parks renovation street vegetation
Public spaces Public transport
creating bus lanes
creating parks new public transport stops new public transport routs
initiating night transport routs
Measures
sidewalk maintenance curb extensions creating pedestrian shortcuts through physical barriers renovating shortcuts improving the condition of the routs to parks improving routs condition to public transport stops
flexible ticket system creating bus lanes bicycle carriage attracting events and activities
Public spaces
creating bus lanes initiating night transport routs
Public transport
bicycle carriage Active urban environment
Results
Integration of the transport and pedestrian networks High quality urban environment
creating complete bike network parks renovation
Street and alley network
flexible ticket system
bicycle carriage expanding pedestrian streets and squares
High-rises Area
improving routs condition to public transport stops
High quality urban environment
buildings closer to the sidewalks for creating active streets
Measures
Improoved transport mobility
Activities
Elements
completing transport network’s missing links creating pedestrian shortcuts through physical barriers renovating shortcuts improving the condition of the routs to parks improving routs condition to public transport stops creating complete bike network creating parks new public transport stops
initiating night transport routs
Activities
renovating shortcuts creating complete bike network
Improoved transport mobility
flexible ticket system
completing transport network’s missing links
Street and alley network
sidewalk maintenance
urban design with local context
Elements
Various Area
Integration of the transport and pedestrian networks
Isolated Area Street and alley network Public spaces
new public transport routs flexible ticket system creating bus lanes
Public transport
initiating night transport routs Active urban environment
bicycle carriage tax relief for attracting specific services
Activities
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Priority Initiatives for Turning Kapana into Creative District Establishing cultural urban relationships as a foundation for successful future development. During my bachelor thesis Plovdiv was a candidate for European Capital of Culture 2019. Few initiatives were started by the municipality to boost the application process. One of them was the renovation of Kapana, a neglected historic area in the city center, and help turn it into a creative district by attracting cultural events and innovative businesses. I started historical, transport and usability research to propose relevant actions for the transformation of Kapana.
Kapana by the end of XIX century
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The maps show the development of Plovdiv since the end of 19th century with Kapana area. During 17th and 18th century Plovdiv was one of the largest cities on the Balkans and important trade center. Kapana was the heart of the city with many craft shops and merchants. When the industrialization process stepped in, the decline of Kapana started as many of the shops closed.
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Law and administrative services
Jewelry and crafts
Art and culture
Retail
Restaurants, grocery and liqueur stores
Cosmetics and other services
Vacant
Hotels and parkings
15 The organic structure and the narrow streets are inappropriate for automobiles and the parked cars had literally filled the space, making it very hard for pedestrians to pass. One of the reasons for the vacant shops and the lack of customers were the parked cars. In the last decade a few local initiatives raised the question about banning cars in Kapana and bringing it to the people. The application for the European Capital of Culture seemed a good time for the municipality to respond and they created many pedestrian streets afterwards. The results followed immediately.
Pubs and cafes
Health
Through field analysis I located and mapped all the businesses found in the neighborhood. Many law firms were in Kapana, thanks to the near location of the Court House. There were also s lot of small retail, cosmetic stores and beauty centers along with some galleries, jewelries and a few craft shops. Despite of the central location many places were empty even with the low rents.
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Evaluation of the Built Environment and Pedestrian Accessibility
Built Environment
- financial and administrative support for the owners and tenants to renovate the buildings - creating public spaces for leisure - compliance with the rules for listed buildings
Management
- establishing a management unit of the district with representatives of the municipality, local residents, businesses and experts - coordinating decisions with all parties - Action Plan for development of Kapana
Economy
- cautious about attracting big companies with possible heavy pressure on the neighborhood - creating coworking spaces - creating clusters of similar businesses to support each other - promoting Kapana through events and urban marketing
Community
- organizing debates for the development of Kapana - encouragement the dialog between the old and the new residents and businesses - creating database with the unused buildings for easy connection of possible renters - improving the management skills of local liders
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! ! ! Creative networks
Art atelier Gallery and antiques
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Bookstore
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Pedestrian area
Improved creative networks
Creative centers Existing art and culture spaces New art and culture spaces Pedestrian area
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Crime Prevention through Urban Planning
The team’s objective was to set measures to prevent crime in Studentski grad, a students’ neighborhood in Sofia, through planning and design of the built environment. Our research was based on principles for good urban design such as clean and attractive environment, visibility, street lights, increased pedestrian traffic and connected residents with the area’s identity. We ended with proposals for urban projects and an infographic about the planning process.
Pedestrian flow intensity from UACEG dormitories
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Working and out of service street lamps
Professional
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Targeted Investment Program to support the development of unfavoured areas of Bulgaria National Center for Regional Development
The program’s objective is to increase the employment and attract investments in the less developed economic regions in the country. It is created in the framework of the government’s program for steady development. The program is targeting problems such as the negative demographic change, inner and outer migration, lack of jobs, low income and low standard of living. The priority projects were set by reviewing the Municipal development plans, the District development strategies and the Regional development plans and tailoring their objectives with the municipal proposals, which were presented to the team. My work was in the process of evaluation and selection of relevant proposals, data organization and visualization.
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Comprehensive Development Planning National Center for Regional Development
Being part of a team working on various municipal Comprehensive Development Plans, I was responsible for digitizing data in GIS format and visualize it graphically. These are Cultural Heritage maps for the municipality of Kyustendil and Bratya Daskalovi. It is shown the locations of the listed National Cultural Heritage ancient settlements, mounds and monuments. The linear graphics are the cultural routs which go through the municipalities.
Bratya Daskalovi municipality Cultural heritage
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Kyustendil municipality Cultural heritage
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Evaluation of location sites for new bus terminal in Burgas National Center for Regional Development
The city of Burgas plans to develop a new Bus station in the western part of the city. The first option is to renovate the existing Western station. The second is to build it on the place of the Bus depot. The task was to compare the two sites and analyze their accessibility by foot, public transport and car. My job included data extraction from Open street maps, cleaning it, adding elevation and restrictions to the street segments and conducting the Network analysis.
Car accessibility 5 and 10 min from Western bus station
Car accessibility 5 and 10 min from Bus depot
Pedestrian accessibility 5, 10, 15, 20 min and reached public transport stops
25 The analysis shows that the car accessibility to both locations is almost similar. The difference is in the access by foot and by public transport. The Pedestrian accessibility map shows significantly larger pedestrian area covered from the Western bus station up to 20 min of walking in comparison with the Bus depot area. The nearby public transport stops are also in much greater number in favour of the Western station. The location of the Bus depot is separated from the city center by a railway and has only two connections to it, one of which is only for motorized vehicles. This makes it very isolated, hardly accessible and not suitable for convenient bus terminal. The lower three maps present the initial site design of the renovated Western bus station with new transport schemes reducing the conflicts between motorized and pedestrian movement.
Site design
Walking distance from Western station up to 3000 meters
Walking distance from Bus depot up to 3000 meters
Motorized movement
Pedestrian movement
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One Architecture Week During my internship at OAW festival I was responsible for various urban interventions. I participated in the organization of the competition for the square in front of the House of Culture in Plovdiv. I created interactive maps, organized public debates, took part in students research about Kapana in Plovdiv and the next year I led another for Maritsa river. It was a great opportunity for me to advance with my organizational, management, problem solving and negotiation skills.
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Initiatives
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Association of Bulgarian Planning Students Students organization, created to help the urbanism students in creating professional network and to promote the newly established in Bulgaria urban planning profession. I have been a Member 2011 - 2013, Vice President 2013 - 2015 and President 2015 - 2016.
Keep calm and make ДВОР. We organized a students’ architecture competition for the yard of the UACEG with more than 100 participants from 5 universities. We attracted sponsors for the prizes and a jury from a recognized professionals.
I took part in writing the book “10 years urban planning program in UACEG“. The book is students’ initiative supported by the university. It is about the program in the university, the skills which the students gain and opportunities for professional realization.
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We organized a series of tutorials for developing the graphic skills of the urban planning, design, architecture and landscape architecture students. We covered the basics and some advanced techniques of software like Adobe Suite, ArcGIS, Rhino, SketchUp. I led the tutorials on ArcGIS and Adobe Illustrator.
ESRI GIS Day 2015 exhibition - we created a database with the graduated urbanism students, organized their theses in 5 categories and created a map with all the municipalities in Bulgaria for which a thesis was made. I did the mapping and the graphic visualization. We participated with the map in the exhibition.
Competitions
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Green Burgas Competition The competition was initiated by the Embassy of Netherlands in Bulgaria and had 3 goals. The first one was to present a short vision for the green development of Burgas. The second was to present a spatial concept for the very diverse south west part of the city by introducing sustainable use of the resources, new functions, revitalization and measures to improve the quality of the urban and natural environment. The third goal was to show ideas related to the physical environment or soft measures to target the challenges of the area. Our team of urbanist and an engineer got awarded by the Union of Architects and later by the Academy Awards competition.
Benefits for
New bicycle and tram network with urban agriculture places
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A green city cannot exist separately from the habits and the lifestyle of its citizens. Top-down policies should merge with bottom-up initiatives. That is why our proposal was to focus on the urban environment, mobility and urban activism. We proposed revitalization of the public spaces and creation of areas for leisure and sports activities along the lakes, a new bicycle network and extension of an old industrial railway and converting it into a tram line. We combined these proposals with soft measures
such as social and financial benefits for municipality employees who use bikes or public transport. By their example another companies can follow. Another proposal was the creation of a sustainable food cycle with the use of local resources. Urban agriculture connected with the local people, restaurants and schools can deal with the access to both cheap and fresh food with low environmental footprint.
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