Bradley Macpherson

The Application of Centrality Measures to Smart Growth Planning in the Greater Golden Horseshoe Area ©2014

This research determines if the Places to Grow Legislation’s density targets for Urban
Growth Centres (UGC) throughout the Greater Golden Horseshoe Area (GGHA) are obtainable. This is completed by using network centrality calculations that use two modified Multi Centrality Assessment (MCA) approaches. These methods are used to ensure an accurate representation of the network structure by using the three centrality types per method: CB, CC, and CD. In addition one of the modified MCA methods used a weighting technique that alters the centrality values. Both methods use roadway intersections as ‘nodes’ in the analysis and streets as the connecting ‘edges’ to create the calculations of centrality. The two methods are then used to determine if a relationship between centrality and the UGCs density targets exist by using KMeans clustering and 3D Scatter Plots. This relationship is utilized to identify unknown UGCs by the combination of Kernel Density Estimation (KDE) plots and Triangulated Irregular Network (TIN) Visualizations. It was determined that the UGC’s density targets are achievable throughout the GGHA and that Downtown Welland should be classified as a UGC.