Nikhil Kaza
Biographic Data
| ID | 6010213 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Nikhil Kaza |
| GIVEN NAMES | Nikhil |
| FAMILY NAME | Kaza |
| SIGNATURE | KAZA N |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-9536-7643 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 22 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 35 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 22 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2006 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Institutional insights for smart cities and urban innovation: Lessons from building data dashboards
Characterizing manufactured home parks in North Carolina: A computer vision based approach
This study uses a computer vision-based approach to identify manufactured home parks (MHP) across North Carolina, addressing the critical lack of comprehensive public records for these vulnerable housing communities. Using high-resolution aerial imagery, a custom-trained YOLOv8 object detection model, building footprints, and parcel records, we identified 8460 MHP—more than three times the size of the largest current public dataset. The precision…
Growing Safely or Building Risk: Floodplain Management in North Carolina
Problem, research strategy, and findings Limiting housing and infrastructure in flood-prone places has long been recognized as critical to managing long-term risk. However, due to the difficulty of tracking development at small spatial scales, little empirical research has been conducted to explain differences between communities’ floodplain development patterns. We analyzed new construction across 5 million parcels in the state of North Carolina…
A Wrench in the Machine: How Subsidy Removal Alters the Politics of Coastal Development
Problem, research strategy, and findings Federal, state, and local government funding helps stimulate urban development, with growth machine politics playing an important role in determining where subsidies are allocated. The U.S. Coastal Barrier Resources Act (CBRA) was enacted to curb the role of federal subsidies in fostering development along hazardous coastal barriers, providing an opportunity to explore how local growth politics are influen…
Multiclass Compactness Index for Urban Areas
Often urban compactness indexes ignore the variegated intensity of urban development in their focus on the configuration. In this article, I propose an extension to the index of moment of inertia (IMI) as a compactness measure that can account for multiple ordinal classes representing development intensity. I demonstrate this index for developed areas for each county in the contiguous United States. These counties have a range of development conf…
Customer complaint management and smart technology adoption by community water systems
How does the removal of federal subsidies affect investment in coastal protection infrastructure
Association between Neighborhood Food Access, Household Income, and Purchase of Snacks and Beverages in the United States
Considerable research on the risk factors of obesity and chronic diseases has focused on relationships between where people live, where they shop, and the types of food they purchase. Rarely have investigators used a national sample and explicitly addressed the amount of energy-dense and nutrient-poor foods purchased in different types of neighborhood food stores. Even more rarely have studies accounted for the characteristics of the broader buil…
Landscape shape adjusted compactness index for urban areas
Availability of neighbourhood supermarkets and convenience stores, broader built environment context, and the purchase of fruits and vegetables in US households
Objective: To determine whether neighbourhood supermarket and convenience store availability and broader built environment context are associated with food purchasing behaviour in a national population. Design: We used observational data to perform a cross-sectional study of food purchases for US households in 2010. We used three-level mixed-effect regression models to determine whether the associations between the number of neighbourhood superma…
Explaining Spatial Variations in Residential Energy Usage Intensity in Chicago: The Role of Urban Form and Geomorphometry
Understanding the spatial pattern of energy consumption within buildings is essential to urban energy planning and management. This study explores the spatial complexity of residential energy usage intensity, with a focus on urban form and geomorphometry attributes. Using spatial regression models, we find that while vegetation and isolation have more local impact on energy intensity, urban porosity and roughness length have consistent spillover …
Missing millions: Undercounting urbanization in India
The measurement and characterization of urbanization crucially depends upon defining what counts as urban. The government of India estimates that only 31% of the population is urban. We show that this is an artifact of the definition of urbanity and an underestimate of the level of urbanization in India. We use a random forest-based model to create a high-resolution (~ 100 m) population grid from district-level data available from the Indian Cens…
Vain foresight: Against the idea of implementation in planning
Why are many plans not implemented? Common explanations are planners have little power, they fail to account for political or environmental uncertainty in the plans or they failed to include enough voices during the planning process. The theoretical frameworks on which we base our understanding of plans focus on implementation as a key evaluative mechanism. I challenge the premise that plans realise their potential only when they are implemented.…
Urban form and air quality in the United States
Land policy: Planning and the spatial consequences of property
Persons, polities and planning
Deliberative democracy often presumes that the deliberators are members of a political community who often share common understanding about their values, even when they disagree about them. Participatory planning processes building upon these ideas argue that planning itself has to be communicative among a variety of interest groups and should, usually, result in a common consensus. However, the boundaries of these groups rarely get attention. Th…
The Spatio-temporal Clustering of Green Buildings in the United States
This paper explores the spatial and temporal patterns of green building in the commercial and institutional sectors in the US. While these buildings are becoming more commonplace, they have yet to reach a critical mass to affect the entire construction industry. Given the potential for green building practices to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions, the paper seeks to understand the geography of green building. Using multiple metrics, …
Principles of Planning for Economists
Planning approach is often characterized as stiffly regulatory while the market approach is characterized as more flexible. However, this article asserts that planning is not about market failures and regulatory remedies but can be better understood by several other economic principles. It argues that plans and planning make sense in situations where either single or multiple actors think before acting, using limited information. It considers pla…
Peak Oil, Urban Form, and Public Health: Exploring the Connections
We assessed the relationships between peak oil and urban form, travel behavior, and public health. Peak oil will affect the general economy, travel behavior, and urban form through income and substitution effects; however, because of the wide range of substitution possibilities, the impacts are likely to be gradual and relatively small. Furthermore, we suggest that changes in travel behavior and increases in urban density will have both favorable…
Peak Oil, Urban Form, and Public Health: Exploring the Connections
We assessed the relationships between peak oil and urban form, travel behavior, and public health. Peak oil will affect the general economy, travel behavior, and urban form through income and substitution effects; however, because of the wide range of substitution possibilities, the impacts are likely to be gradual and relatively small. Furthermore, we suggest that changes in travel behavior and increases in urban density will have both favorable…
In What Circumstances Should Plans Be Public
Characterizing plans as means of interaction and influence among organizations rather than as mechanisms of control over a complex multiorganizational environment frames the question: In what circumstances should plans be shared widely? Organizations have persistent and repeated interactions about many issues, have fractured capabilities and authorities, and make multiple, overlapping, and interacting plans. Some of these plans are public and som…
Tyranny of the Median and Costly Consent: A Reflection on the Justification for Participatory Urban Planning Processes
Wide participation, in the urban planning context, is justified as the means of balancing multiple interests outside the traditional decision-making setup. However, this article argues that the participatory paradigm provides at best inadequate justification to the planning process. Particularly if consensus building is the aim of the participatory process, it suffers from a number of impossibility results well documented in the political economi…
Tyranny of the Median and Costly Consent: A Reflection on the Justification for Participatory Urban Planning Processes
Wide participation, in the urban planning context, is justified as the means of balancing multiple interests outside the traditional decision-making setup. However, this article argues that the participatory paradigm provides at best inadequate justification to the planning process. Particularly if consensus building is the aim of the participatory process, it suffers from a number of impossibility results well documented in the political economi…
In What Circumstances Should Plans Be Public
Characterizing plans as means of interaction and influence among organizations rather than as mechanisms of control over a complex multiorganizational environment frames the question: In what circumstances should plans be shared widely? Organizations have persistent and repeated interactions about many issues, have fractured capabilities and authorities, and make multiple, overlapping, and interacting plans. Some of these plans are public and som…
Explaining Spatial Variations in Residential Energy Usage Intensity in Chicago: The Role of Urban Form and Geomorphometry
Understanding the spatial pattern of energy consumption within buildings is essential to urban energy planning and management. This study explores the spatial complexity of residential energy usage intensity, with a focus on urban form and geomorphometry attributes. Using spatial regression models, we find that while vegetation and isolation have more local impact on energy intensity, urban porosity and roughness length have consistent spillover …
Persons, polities and planning
Deliberative democracy often presumes that the deliberators are members of a political community who often share common understanding about their values, even when they disagree about them. Participatory planning processes building upon these ideas argue that planning itself has to be communicative among a variety of interest groups and should, usually, result in a common consensus. However, the boundaries of these groups rarely get attention. Th…
Vain foresight: Against the idea of implementation in planning
Why are many plans not implemented? Common explanations are planners have little power, they fail to account for political or environmental uncertainty in the plans or they failed to include enough voices during the planning process. The theoretical frameworks on which we base our understanding of plans focus on implementation as a key evaluative mechanism. I challenge the premise that plans realise their potential only when they are implemented.…
Customer complaint management and smart technology adoption by community water systems
Missing millions: Undercounting urbanization in India
The measurement and characterization of urbanization crucially depends upon defining what counts as urban. The government of India estimates that only 31% of the population is urban. We show that this is an artifact of the definition of urbanity and an underestimate of the level of urbanization in India. We use a random forest-based model to create a high-resolution (~ 100 m) population grid from district-level data available from the Indian Cens…
The Spatio-temporal Clustering of Green Buildings in the United States
This paper explores the spatial and temporal patterns of green building in the commercial and institutional sectors in the US. While these buildings are becoming more commonplace, they have yet to reach a critical mass to affect the entire construction industry. Given the potential for green building practices to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions, the paper seeks to understand the geography of green building. Using multiple metrics, …
Peak Oil, Urban Form, and Public Health: Exploring the Connections
We assessed the relationships between peak oil and urban form, travel behavior, and public health. Peak oil will affect the general economy, travel behavior, and urban form through income and substitution effects; however, because of the wide range of substitution possibilities, the impacts are likely to be gradual and relatively small. Furthermore, we suggest that changes in travel behavior and increases in urban density will have both favorable…
Peak Oil, Urban Form, and Public Health: Exploring the Connections
We assessed the relationships between peak oil and urban form, travel behavior, and public health. Peak oil will affect the general economy, travel behavior, and urban form through income and substitution effects; however, because of the wide range of substitution possibilities, the impacts are likely to be gradual and relatively small. Furthermore, we suggest that changes in travel behavior and increases in urban density will have both favorable…
Tyranny of the Median and Costly Consent: A Reflection on the Justification for Participatory Urban Planning Processes
Wide participation, in the urban planning context, is justified as the means of balancing multiple interests outside the traditional decision-making setup. However, this article argues that the participatory paradigm provides at best inadequate justification to the planning process. Particularly if consensus building is the aim of the participatory process, it suffers from a number of impossibility results well documented in the political economi…
In What Circumstances Should Plans Be Public
Characterizing plans as means of interaction and influence among organizations rather than as mechanisms of control over a complex multiorganizational environment frames the question: In what circumstances should plans be shared widely? Organizations have persistent and repeated interactions about many issues, have fractured capabilities and authorities, and make multiple, overlapping, and interacting plans. Some of these plans are public and som…
Peak Oil, Urban Form, and Public Health: Exploring the Connections
We assessed the relationships between peak oil and urban form, travel behavior, and public health. Peak oil will affect the general economy, travel behavior, and urban form through income and substitution effects; however, because of the wide range of substitution possibilities, the impacts are likely to be gradual and relatively small. Furthermore, we suggest that changes in travel behavior and increases in urban density will have both favorable…
Peak Oil, Urban Form, and Public Health: Exploring the Connections
We assessed the relationships between peak oil and urban form, travel behavior, and public health. Peak oil will affect the general economy, travel behavior, and urban form through income and substitution effects; however, because of the wide range of substitution possibilities, the impacts are likely to be gradual and relatively small. Furthermore, we suggest that changes in travel behavior and increases in urban density will have both favorable…
Principles of Planning for Economists
Planning approach is often characterized as stiffly regulatory while the market approach is characterized as more flexible. However, this article asserts that planning is not about market failures and regulatory remedies but can be better understood by several other economic principles. It argues that plans and planning make sense in situations where either single or multiple actors think before acting, using limited information. It considers pla…
Persons, polities and planning
Deliberative democracy often presumes that the deliberators are members of a political community who often share common understanding about their values, even when they disagree about them. Participatory planning processes building upon these ideas argue that planning itself has to be communicative among a variety of interest groups and should, usually, result in a common consensus. However, the boundaries of these groups rarely get attention. Th…
The Spatio-temporal Clustering of Green Buildings in the United States
This paper explores the spatial and temporal patterns of green building in the commercial and institutional sectors in the US. While these buildings are becoming more commonplace, they have yet to reach a critical mass to affect the entire construction industry. Given the potential for green building practices to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions, the paper seeks to understand the geography of green building. Using multiple metrics, …
Urban form and air quality in the United States
Land policy: Planning and the spatial consequences of property
Vain foresight: Against the idea of implementation in planning
Why are many plans not implemented? Common explanations are planners have little power, they fail to account for political or environmental uncertainty in the plans or they failed to include enough voices during the planning process. The theoretical frameworks on which we base our understanding of plans focus on implementation as a key evaluative mechanism. I challenge the premise that plans realise their potential only when they are implemented.…
Availability of neighbourhood supermarkets and convenience stores, broader built environment context, and the purchase of fruits and vegetables in US households
Objective: To determine whether neighbourhood supermarket and convenience store availability and broader built environment context are associated with food purchasing behaviour in a national population. Design: We used observational data to perform a cross-sectional study of food purchases for US households in 2010. We used three-level mixed-effect regression models to determine whether the associations between the number of neighbourhood superma…
Explaining Spatial Variations in Residential Energy Usage Intensity in Chicago: The Role of Urban Form and Geomorphometry
Understanding the spatial pattern of energy consumption within buildings is essential to urban energy planning and management. This study explores the spatial complexity of residential energy usage intensity, with a focus on urban form and geomorphometry attributes. Using spatial regression models, we find that while vegetation and isolation have more local impact on energy intensity, urban porosity and roughness length have consistent spillover …
Missing millions: Undercounting urbanization in India
The measurement and characterization of urbanization crucially depends upon defining what counts as urban. The government of India estimates that only 31% of the population is urban. We show that this is an artifact of the definition of urbanity and an underestimate of the level of urbanization in India. We use a random forest-based model to create a high-resolution (~ 100 m) population grid from district-level data available from the Indian Cens…
Association between Neighborhood Food Access, Household Income, and Purchase of Snacks and Beverages in the United States
Considerable research on the risk factors of obesity and chronic diseases has focused on relationships between where people live, where they shop, and the types of food they purchase. Rarely have investigators used a national sample and explicitly addressed the amount of energy-dense and nutrient-poor foods purchased in different types of neighborhood food stores. Even more rarely have studies accounted for the characteristics of the broader buil…
Landscape shape adjusted compactness index for urban areas
How does the removal of federal subsidies affect investment in coastal protection infrastructure
Customer complaint management and smart technology adoption by community water systems
Growing Safely or Building Risk: Floodplain Management in North Carolina
Problem, research strategy, and findings Limiting housing and infrastructure in flood-prone places has long been recognized as critical to managing long-term risk. However, due to the difficulty of tracking development at small spatial scales, little empirical research has been conducted to explain differences between communities’ floodplain development patterns. We analyzed new construction across 5 million parcels in the state of North Carolina…
A Wrench in the Machine: How Subsidy Removal Alters the Politics of Coastal Development
Problem, research strategy, and findings Federal, state, and local government funding helps stimulate urban development, with growth machine politics playing an important role in determining where subsidies are allocated. The U.S. Coastal Barrier Resources Act (CBRA) was enacted to curb the role of federal subsidies in fostering development along hazardous coastal barriers, providing an opportunity to explore how local growth politics are influen…
Multiclass Compactness Index for Urban Areas
Often urban compactness indexes ignore the variegated intensity of urban development in their focus on the configuration. In this article, I propose an extension to the index of moment of inertia (IMI) as a compactness measure that can account for multiple ordinal classes representing development intensity. I demonstrate this index for developed areas for each county in the contiguous United States. These counties have a range of development conf…
Characterizing manufactured home parks in North Carolina: A computer vision based approach
This study uses a computer vision-based approach to identify manufactured home parks (MHP) across North Carolina, addressing the critical lack of comprehensive public records for these vulnerable housing communities. Using high-resolution aerial imagery, a custom-trained YOLOv8 object detection model, building footprints, and parcel records, we identified 8460 MHP—more than three times the size of the largest current public dataset. The precision…
Institutional insights for smart cities and urban innovation: Lessons from building data dashboards
Geography (13 works) · Business (12 works) · Economics (12 works) · Environmental planning (7 works) · Computer Science (6 works) · Environmental resource management (6 works) · Economic growth (5 works) · Engineering (5 works) · Environmental Science (5 works) · Economic geography (4 works)