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Environmental Characteristics of Smart Growth Neighborhoods

An Exploratory Case Study

Chapter 3
EVALUATION OF BUILT ENVIRONMENTS

To accomplish the built environment measurements, Criterion applied its INDEX software to the three sites using data provided by the City of Sacramento and Sacramento County. INDEX is a GIS-based model that measures the physical or spatial characteristics of urban form, housing and employment activities, and transportation systems. Tables 2 and 3 list the results for indicators that were measurable using available data, and Table 4 summarizes these results. Figure 2 (pdf, 152k), Figure 3 (pdf, 209k), and Figure 4 (pdf, 190k) show the location of vicinity features measured with INDEX.

Table 2: Built Environment Indicators - Metro Square vs. North Natomas
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Table 3: Built Environment Indicators - Metro Square vs. Antelope
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TABLE 4 Summary of Built Environments Comparison
Element	Indicator	Metro Square as % of Natomas	Metro Square as % of Antelope
Land-Use and Urban Form	Total land consumption	22	26
	Per capita land consumption	29	33
	Block size	45	28
	Vicinity use mix	232	425
	Neighborhood completeness	144	144
Housing	Parcel size	23	29
	Density	333	286
	Distance to convenience grocery	5	17
	Distance to supermarket	13	39
	Distance to school	11	63
	Distance to transit	6	¥
	Jobs within one mile	¥	836
Parks and Recreation	Park space availability	108	¥
Parks and Recreation	Distance to park	49	11
Travel	Internal street connectivity	134	128
	Distance between external streets	6	82
	Transit service density	¥	¥
	Pedestrian network coverage	100	100
	Pedestrian capacity	150	200
	Pedestrian crossing distance	81	81
	Pedestrian safety at intersections	1250	333
	Pedestrian route directness	94	90
	Bicycle network coverage	310	¥
	Traffic calming	¥	¥
	Residential off-street parking supply	60	68
Other Environment	Open space	500	¥
	Street trees	¥	¥
	Imperviousness	82	89