Geography IA [FINAL SUBMISSION] V2 OCR PDF

Geography Internal Assessment Research Question: To what extent does Lougheed Town Centre follow the Urban Nuclei Model? May Session 2025 1 Table of Contents Table of Contents – 2 Geographical Context – 3...

Geography Internal Assessment Research Question: To what extent does Lougheed Town Centre follow the Urban Nuclei Model? May Session 2025 1 Table of Contents Table of Contents – 2 Geographical Context – 3 ○ Hypotheses – 5 ○ The Urban Nuclei Model – 6 Methods of Investigation – 7 ○ Building Analysis – 7 ○ Transport Hubs – 8 ○ Noise – 9 Data Presentation and Analysis – 9 ○ Building Analysis – 19 ○ Transport Hubs– 11 ○ Noise – 14 Conclusion – 16 Evaluation – 18 Bibliography – 19 2 Geographical Context My investigation aims to answer the question: ‘To what extent does Lougheed Town Centre follow the Urban Nuclei Model1?' Our area of study, Lougheed Town Centre, is a Central Business District (CBD) located in Burnaby, British Colombia, Canada. Lougheed Town Centre is one of 4 designated town centers in Burnaby, aimed to provide residents with easy-access options to retail, housing, transit, and various city services. The area’s urban growth and development can be attributed to its significant presence in retail & service industries, and its proximity to major transport routes, like BC’s Expo & Millennium Skytrain Lines, supplemented by numerous bus loops in the area. Lougheed Town Centre is also known for its varying high to low-density residential options, and multiple retail/industrial hotspots, which makes it a suitable area to study alongside the Urban Nuclei Model. The Urban Nuclei model is a US urban geography model that describes cities with multiple CBDS or a single CBD supplemented by many secondary outlying business districts, or ‘nuclei’. The appearance of varying business and commercial centers with differing functions within the City of Lougheed makes it appear that the town center has plenty of patterns similar to the concepts of the aforementioned model. Through the analysis of the completed methodology relating to factors such as building analysis, transport hubs, and housing price patterns, we can identify the similarities and differences to determine the result of my hypothesis. As Lougheed Town Centre is experiencing ongoing urban development, the comprehension of its relationship to the model can help us understand key factors as to how it will expand in the future. 1 Singh, Kulwinder. “Multiple Nuclei Model by Harris and Ullman.” Pan Geography (blog), May 6, 2022. https://pangeography.com/multiple-nuclei-model-by-harris-and-ullman/. 3 Figure 1.1: Class-made annotation of Lougheed Town Centre and its divided sub-sections. Our cohort divided Lougheed Town Centre into 24 distinct sections along the roads, where data was collected at various points depending on the methodology. The range of sections covered both the central CBD and its surrounding outskirts, allowing us to gather comprehensive data to support our hypotheses. 4 Hypotheses: Hypothesis: Lougheed's multiple commercial areas, housing diversity, and transportation hubs suggest that it functions with more than one core, aligning to a great extent with the Urban Nuclei Model. Sub-Hypotheses: 1. Transport Hubs are spread across the town centre, which allows the development of multiple nuclei to form. a. The land use of Lougheed Town Centre can be strongly correlated with its transport hubs, and the more diverse that range of hubs across the district is, the more patterns form aligning to the Urban Nuclei Model. 2. Housing in Lougheed Town Centre is clustered in distinct residential nuclei with varying densities, reflecting both high-density housing near transit hubs and lower-density housing in peripheral areas. a. High-density housing clusters near transit hubs for convenience, while lower-density housing is further out, reflecting multiple residential nuclei. 3. Higher noise levels are found near commercial and transport nuclei, with decreasing values as the distance from these centers increases. a. Noise near commercial and transport hubs is more audible due to active crowding, traffic, and certain industries, with lower values farther from these nuclei. 5 The Urban-Nuclei Model Figure 1: Hand-drawn Urban Nuclei Model1 made by candidate Land-Use Zones: 1. Primary CBD 2. Wholesale & Manufacturing 3. Low-Class Residential 4. Middle-Class Residential 5. High-Class Residential 6. Heavy Manufacturing 7. CBD-2 8. Suburbs 9. Industrial Suburbs 6 Methods of Investigation In pursuing my IA’s methodology, our IB Geography HL cohort was divided into twenty-four groups of 3 people each to survey sub-roads from Lougheed Town Centre. Each of our sub-roads (smaller sections of the town center that were divided among pupils) contained a single point where data would be collected for specific methodologies, while the rest were collected along the road paths. The duration of data collection spanned from 10 AM through to 2 PM, on April 11th, 2024. Data Collection Methodologies Variable Measured Methodology Description Justification Building Analysis Along the designated Accurately observing the land sub-roads, count and record use; especially in the differing the number of buildings in types of buildings across the your grid. Categorize by land town center, gives us insight use types: Residential: into whether or not it fits the houses, and apartments; description of the Urban high-rises as being 9 floors Nuclei Model. It helps us and up, mid-rises as being 4 identify areas of low to high to 8 floors, or low-rises which classes of residences as well were under 3 floors. Other as the possibility of more than land use types included one CBD within the city. This commercial, public spaces, data can also be compared in 7  mixed, and undeveloped conjunction with transport areas. Note the relative size of hub data while investigating each variable in comparison the relationship between high with the other variables; use a and low-density housing and ratio (ex. Commercial to their respective proximity to residential use 3:1). transport hubs. Transport Hubs Within Lougheed Town In pursuing the collection of Centre, the two types of transport hub data, we are transport hubs available were able to observe whether it Bus Stops and (a) Skytrain correlates the City of station. Along your Lougheed to the Urban designated sub-road, count Nuclei Model. This is the number of all transport justified through investigating hubs in the area, while the development of tracking each of their number commercial/retail/residential of lines and their frequencies. hubs in accordance with the number of transport hubs nearby. Noise In the designated data The collective investigation collection points, 1 person of noise levels across uses Decibel X, a decibel Lougheed Town Centre can 8  meter app, and measures a give us insights into the sample time of 60 seconds, 3 existence of multiple nuclei, times throughout the day, directly correlating to our then compiling the average. research question. Note that (10 AM, 12 PM, 2 PM). drizzle on collection day could have potentially altered noise data collection. Data Presentation and Analysis Sub-Hypothesis 1: Figure 3.1: Raw data for # of lines per grid location sorted by zone Zone Distance from CBD (m) ±5m Number of Lines 1 350 12 (SkyTrain + 10) 2 425 2 3 155 0 4 544 3 5 604 1 6 333 0 7 325 0 8 298 0 9 560 0 10 860 1 11 625 2 12 597 2 13 348 4 14 441 3 9 15 692 0 16 643 1 17 963 3 18 779 0 19 775 6 20 967 1 21 1007 0 22 1004 0 23 1280 0 24 1300 0 Figure 3.2: Distance from CBD compared to # of Transit Lines Per Zone 10  The data collected (Figure 3.2) shows a weak correlation between the average distance from the CBD and the number of transit lines per zone, with a Spearman's rank coefficient of -0.15. Ideally, a single central business district (CBD) should have the majority of its transport hubs concentrated around it. However, the findings indicate a variety of transit lines scattered throughout Lougheed Town Centre, suggesting that multiple transit-oriented commercial and residential hubs may have emerged. This aligns with the notion of multiple nuclei forming around distinct transport hubs. One strength of the data is the visible distribution of transport hubs across various zones, which supports the hypothesis that Lougheed Town Centre exhibits characteristics of a multi-nucleated urban area. However, the data also has notable weaknesses. The variability in the frequency and types of transit services may have impacted the clarity of the correlation. Additionally, the study’s single-day data collection limits the comprehensiveness of the transport data and may not fully represent the dynamics of the town center over time. Future studies could benefit from real-time transport data or expanded data collection across multiple days to address these limitations and provide a more accurate picture of transport hub distribution. Sub-Hypothesis 2: Figure 4.1: Raw data for the Number of Buildings and Number of Transit Lines per Zone in Lougheed Town Centre" 11  Zone # Number of Buildings (Total) Number of Transit Lines 1 12 12 2 9 2 3 7 0 4 16 3 5 14 1 6 13 0 7 11 0 8 18 0 9 21 0 10 24 1 11 15 2 12 22 2 13 15 4 14 15 3 15 38 0 16 11 1 17 35 3 18 51 0 19 21 6 20 24 1 21 24 0 22 21 0 23 25 0 24 26 0 12 Figure 4.2: (Per Zone) Number of Transit Lines compared to Number of buildings This graph shows a weak negative correlation between the number of buildings and the number of transit lines in zones around Lougheed Town Centre, with a Spearman's rank correlation coefficient of -0.22. This suggests that zones with a higher number of buildings tend to have fewer transit lines, though the relationship is weak. Furthermore, the analysis of housing types—whether high-rise, mid-rise, or low-rise—may be affecting the results, as densely built areas may inherently have fewer transit lines due to their proximity to main transportation hubs. High-density areas with fewer transit lines may still be connected to other hubs or bus routes may cover less dense zones more extensively. These discrepancies warrant further investigation to refine our understanding of the relationship between land use and transport hub distribution in the context of the Urban Nuclei Model. 13 Sub Hypothesis 3: Figure 5.1 Data: Distance From CBD & Average Decibel in the area Zone Number Distance from CBD (m) AVG Decibel 3 155 71.23 8 298 66.52 7 325 66.99 6 333 71.27 13 348 68.24 1 350 56.6 2 425 56.46 14 441 69.84 4 544 58.38 9 560 61.83 12 597 70.39 5 604 65.68 11 625 64.58 16 643 74.57 15 692 50.43 19 775 61.44 18 779 63.2 10 860 60.94 17 963 68.08 20 967 62.3 22 1004 50.52 21 1007 59.94 23 1280 65.12 24 1300 45.27 14 Figure 5.2 Distance From CBD compared to Average Decibel in the area (Graph) Figure 5.1 shows a negative correlation of -0.45 between noise levels and the distance from the CBD. This suggests that, in general, noise levels decrease as you move further away from the center, which would typically align with the idea of a single CBD where noise radiates outward from the main commercial areas. However, the data also presents some inconsistencies that raise questions about the presence of other potential nuclei. In certain zones, noise levels don’t drop as expected, and in some cases, areas farther from the CBD recorded higher noise levels, indicating possible secondary hubs of activity. These anomalies suggest that Lougheed Town Centre might not be as straightforward as one would think of a single CBD model. While the overall trend supports the idea of noise radiating 15 outward from one central business district, the variations point to the potential for additional nuclei. The Spearman’s rank coefficient of -0.45 indicates a moderate negative correlation, meaning there is some support for the idea of a single primary CBD, but it is not definitive. The discrepancies in the data show that other areas in Lougheed Town Centre could be functioning as secondary nuclei, but further investigation with a larger dataset and more detailed analysis would be needed to confirm this. Conclusion In conclusion, Lougheed Town Centre displays several characteristics that both align with and diverge from the Urban Nuclei Model, based on the analysis of the hypotheses. The findings suggest that the town centre partially follows the model, but with notable exceptions that point toward further complexities in its urban structure. For Sub-Hypothesis 1, the data showed that Lougheed Town Centre has a wide distribution of transit hubs, supporting the idea of multiple nuclei. The weak negative correlation between distance from the CBD and the number of transit lines suggests that transport hubs are not concentrated around one central CBD, as the Urban Nuclei Model would predict, but are spread across the area, hinting at the formation of secondary commercial and residential nuclei. The diverse locations of these transport hubs support Sub-Hypothesis 1 to a significant extent. Sub-Hypothesis 2, which examines the correlation between the number of buildings and transit lines, does not fully support a clear connection between the two variables. The weak negative correlation between the number of buildings and transit lines challenges the assumption 16 that denser areas should correlate with more transit access. While there is some suggestion that busier zones may be associated with fewer lines, further investigation into the distribution of high-rise, mid-rise, and low-rise structures is needed to refine this hypothesis. Finally, Sub-Hypothesis 3 explored noise levels as an indicator of multiple cores within the town centre. Although the general trend of decreasing noise levels with increasing distance from the CBD aligns with the presence of a central business district, inconsistencies suggest the presence of additional nuclei. The moderate negative correlation supports the idea of a central core, but anomalies in the data indicate the potential for secondary cores, although this hypothesis is not fully confirmed and warrants further research. Overall, while Lougheed Town Centre shows some signs of fitting the Urban Nuclei Model, especially in terms of the distribution of transport hubs, discrepancies in the data suggest that the town centre may not follow the model in a straightforward manner. The evidence points to a potentially more complex urban structure with multiple smaller nuclei emerging around the central CBD. Further research, particularly focusing on land use patterns, population density, and the precise nature of these nuclei, would be required to fully confirm the extent to which Lougheed Town Centre follows the Urban Nuclei Model. 17 Evaluation The methodologies employed in the investigation were generally easy to follow, which helped minimize human error. A reasonable amount of time and effort was dedicated to tracking each methodology, with consistent time allocation across all factors of urbanization considered. Each factor counted was relevant to the area under study. However, there were notable weaknesses, such as a lack of consideration for residential areas in the methodology design, which could lead to an overrepresentation of these areas on the map. Additionally, an overreliance on qualitative data to describe aspects that cannot be quantified impacted the accuracy of evaluations. There were also limitations in both the quantity and quality of data for each methodology; for instance, the parking methodology did not mention street parking, the waste management methodology overlooked residential areas, and the green space evaluation excluded private properties. To improve the investigation, it would be beneficial to develop methodologies that explicitly account for residential areas, ensuring a balanced representation. Incorporating more quantitative data where possible would enhance accuracy and reliability, reducing reliance on qualitative observations. These methodologies were not part of my IA’s investigation, these are things to keep in mind a potential next time and to note, the lack of some quality in methodologies held me back from using them in my writing in the first place. Lastly, refining the 18 methodology for transport hubs to better reflect the area's characteristics is essential, especially considering that these neighborhoods are all within walking distance of a SkyTrain station, which was not adequately represented in the current methodology. References Codrington, Stephen. Our Planet’s Urban Environments. Solid Star Press, 15 Mar. 2021. Singh, Kulwinder. “Multiple Nuclei Model by Harris and Ullman.” Pan Geography (blog), May 6, 2022. https://pangeography.com/multiple-nuclei-model-by-harris-and-ullman/. The city of lougheed – a shape centre. (n.d.). Retrieved November 2, 2024, from https://thecityoflougheed.com/ 19