Barchers, Camille

Job Title

Assistant Professor

Last Name

Barchers

First Name

Camille

Discipline

Urban Studies and Planning

Expertise

public engagement, big data, land use planning, experimental methods in planning, data analytics for long-range planning

Introduction

Camille Barchers has practiced as a regional planner throughout Florida, the Southeast and mid-Atlantic. Prior to joining LARP, Camille taught in the Leadership Education and Development program at the Georgia Institute of Technology where she also received her PhD in City & Regional Planning. Camille’s work examines how planners use technology and how it changes the way we engage with the public. Her research interests include big data applications for long-range planning, internet communication tools, and land use planning.

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Now showing 1 - 7 of 7

Designing a Data Commons for Big Data
(2017-01-01) French, Steven P; Barchers, Camille
Infrastructure systems and smart buildings are rapidly joining the Internet of Things and evolving into advanced cyber-physical systems. As a result, massive amounts of data that characterize the structure and function of urban areas in minute detail are being generated. However, these data are often fragmented and managed by a variety of public agencies and private corporations. As a result, they are not readily available to the urban research community. This paper lays out a strategy to develop a data commons that would collect, curate and distribute Urban Big Data to support research on infrastructure systems and how they interact with the human populations they support.
The relationship between municipal highway expenditures and sociodemographic status: Are safety investments equitably distributed?
(2021-01-01) Ryan, Alyssa; Christofa, Eleni; Barchers, Camille; Knodler, Michael A.
Different population groups have varying transportation needs based on their region type, socio‐economic, and socio‐demographic characteristics. Yet, municipal highway funding allocation methods do not typically consider these differences. Throughout the United States, municipal highway funding allocation is based upon fixed formulas that often only account for highway mileage and/or population size rather than equal benefits and funding outcomes across different population groups. This potentially creates an inequitable funding allocation process leading to safety and accessibility disparities between different population groups. This research investigates the extent to which the distribution of resources is not equal when evaluated by population group. Specifically, the relationship between municipal highway expenditures and poverty levels, population aged 65 years and older, race, and remoteness is investigated using data from the states of New York and Massachusetts. Using linear regression techniques, several models were developed that relate municipal highway expenditures with the socio‐economic and socio‐demographic characteristics of municipalities. The results revealed that there are clear municipal highway expenditure disparities between different population groups. Municipalities that have higher poverty levels experience a lower highway expenditure rate per local mile. Further, municipalities located in remote areas far from large metropolitan regions experience a disproportionately lower highway expenditure rate per local mile. Moreover, the results of this study indicate the need to consider how funding methods can address social differences.
Boxborough Economic Development Study: Phase 2, Technical Memo
(2020-01-01) Renski, Henry; Mullin, John; Barchers, Camille
The Town of Boxborough’s Economic Development Committee (EDC) contracted with the Center for Economic Development at the University of Massachusetts Amherst to produce an economic development study. Phase II began in January of 2020 and provides a deeper evaluation of the development scenarios proposed at the completion of Phase I, involving four key components: 1. Summarize the results from a survey of citizen preferences on the Phase I scenarios. 2. Produce a series of "vignettes" to explain the key elements of the different scenarios to the public. 3. Assess the potential market demand for specific office, retail, and other commercial activities discussed in the Phase I scenarios. 4. Convene two ‘virtual’ community discussion sessions to identify town-wide development priorities and possible short-term actions.
Valley OnBoard: Toward a 20-year Vision for an Accessible, Equitable, Efficient Network for PVTA
(2021-12-01) Barchers, Camille; Butler, Jake; Camp, Stephanie; Carpen, Bo; Nicolas, Dostal; Georgescu, Anamaria; Geraghty, Brendan; Gonzalez, Marcos; Griffis, Ryan; Healey, Victoria Desclos; Herchenreder, Alexander; James, Olivia; Lloyd, Saige; Lovejoy, Benjamin; McCue, Michelle; Mooring, Jessica; Mulvey, Henry; Quagliano, Elizabeth; Zimmerman, Caleb
Massachusetts’ largest regional transit authority (RTA) partnered with the University of Massachusetts at Amherst (UMass) on a two-year project. The goal of this project was to analyze and redesign the current transit network and service offerings to enhance equity and economic vitality throughout its service area in Hampshire and Hampden counties. The UMass project, dubbed Valley On Board (VOB), is part of a larger Pioneer Valley Transit Review and Improvement Planning Study (PV-TRIPS) that also included an update to the comprehensive regional transit plan. Funded by a Helping Obtain Prosperity for Everyone (HOPE) grant from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and the US Department of Transportation, Valley On Board advances the goal of the Federal HOPE Program, which is to improve public transit in areas of persistent poverty in the U.S. The Fall 2021 UMass Regional Planning Studio’s portion of the two-year project proposes a set of route alternatives to improve transit outcomes over the next 20 years for riders throughout the Pioneer Valley, with a specific focus on those living in areas that meet the State’s criteria for Environmental Justice Communities (EJCs).
Boxborough Economic Development Study: Phase 1, Technical Memo
(2019-01-01) Barchers, Camille
The Town of Boxborough’s Economic Development Committee (EDC) contracted with the Center for Economic Development at the University of Massachusetts Amherst to produce an economic development study. Phase 1 of the study, conducted from September through December 2019 by Regional Planning Studio master’s students, began with an investigation of existing conditions and public opinion on economic development and concluded with four plausible future economic development scenarios designed to support the eventual creation of the Town’s long-term economic development plan.
Valley OnBoard Project Website
(2021-01-01) Barchers, Camille
Massachusetts’ largest regional transit authority (RTA), has partnered with the University of Massachusetts at Amherst (UMass) on a two-year project. The goal of this project will be to analyze and redesign the current transit network and service offerings to enhance equity and economic vitality throughout its service area in Hampshire and Hampden counties. The UMass project, dubbed Valley On Board (VOB), is part of a larger Pioneer Valley Transit Review and Improvement Planning Study (PV-TRIPS) that also included an update to the comprehensive regional transit plan. Funded by a Helping Obtain Prosperity for Everyone (HOPE) grant from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and the US Department of Transportation, Valley On Board advances the goal of the Federal HOPE Program, which is to improve public transit in areas of persistent poverty in the U.S. The Fall 2021 UMass Regional Planning Studio’s portion of the two-year project proposes a set of route alternatives to improve transit outcomes over the next 20 years for riders throughout the Pioneer Valley, with a specific focus on those living in areas that meet the State’s criteria for Environmental Justice Communities (EJCs).
Georeferencing the MacConnell Aerial Photo Collection
(2021-11-17) Heilmann, Alex; Martin, Matthew; Barchers, Camille; Bowlick, Forrest J; Seifried, Rebecca M
In the 1950s, Professor William P. MacConnell from the University of Massachusetts Forestry Department began working with his students to map the land cover in Massachusetts via the state’s earliest aerial photography program. These individual photographs are now part of the Special Collections and University Archives at the University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries, and although they have been digitized and made available online, they have not yet been georeferenced. In Spring 2021, our team (Alex and Matthew) began manually georeferencing the photos in ArcMap 10.8 software onto USGS 2019 color orthoimagery of Massachusetts available from MassGIS. Ideal ground control points include building corners, intersections, and any other distinctive features that have not resulted in much change between the historic and contemporary aerial photos. Some challenges we have faced include varying angles in which the photos were taken, cliffs that offset height in parts of the photo, or photos with a heavily forested area that makes georeferencing difficult to pinpoint ground control points. The goal of the project is to georeference the approximately 4,800 individual photos from the 1951-52 series, which spans the entire state of Massachusetts, in order to make them available to the general public as downloadable GeoTIFFs. This result will allow anyone to access the photos and use them to analyze land-use changes in Massachusetts spanning the last 70 years. Manual georeferencing has come with its own challenges when encountering heavily forested aerial photos or aerial photos dominated by mostly urban areas. We find that future research into the potential automation of the georeferencing process would help alleviate the challenges associated with manual georeferencing.