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Implementation of Accessible Land Use Modeling Tools for Texas Regions

Project Summary

The focus of the Sustainability Analysis (SA) project, as managed by the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) team, was the development of a prototype model application. The implementation process allowed the UTA team to fine-tune the process and present an executed example. The resulting model spatially allocated all projected employment types and household categories across the region’s undeveloped grid cells in 5-year intervals/time steps. This allocation was based on the built environment through the application of buffers for proximity and access to attractions (such as activity sites, urban centers, and highways) and on natural environmental factors (e.g., soil, slope, and flood plains), via a series of cell ratings and attribute weightings. The Austin region was selected as the study area thanks to the availability of demographic and geospatial data needed for SA application in ArcGIS, and this interesting midsize region’s continuing growth pressures.

The G-LUM is a land-use forecasting tool modeled on Putman’s DRAM-EMPAL equations and developed for use by Texas MPOs. Under this implementation project, G-LUM was implemented for the Austin, San Antonio, Waco, and El Paso regions, and all results were evaluated.

Project Number

5-5667-01

Status

Completed

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