Metropolitan research requires multidisciplinary perspectives in order to do justice to the complexities of metropolitan regions. This volume provides a scholarly and accessible overview of key methods and approaches in metropolitan research from a uniquely broad range of disciplines including architectural history, art history, heritage conservation, literary and cultural studies, spatial planning and planning theory, geoinformatics, urban sociology, economic geography, operations research, technology studies, transport planning, aquatic ecosystems research and urban epidemiology. It is this scope of disciplinary - and increasingly also interdisciplinary - approaches that allows metropolitan research to address recent societal challenges of urban life, such as mobility, health, diversity or sustainability.

Advanced Quantitative Research Methods for Urban Planners provides fundamental knowledge and hands-on techniques about research, such as research topics and key journals in the planning field, advice for technical writing, and advanced quantitative methodologies. This book aims to provide the reader with a comprehensive and detailed understanding of advanced quantitative methods and to provide guidance on technical writing. Complex material is presented in the simplest and clearest way possible using real-world planning examples and making the theoretical content of each chapter as tangible as possible. Hands-on techniques for a variety of quantitative research studies are covered to provide graduate students, university faculty, and professional researchers with useful guidance and references. A companion to Basic Quantitative Research Methods for Urban Planners, Advanced Quantitative Research Methods for Urban Planners is an ideal read for researchers who want to branch out methodologically and for practicing planners who need to conduct advanced analyses with planning data.

In most planning practice and research, planners work with quantitative data. By summarizing, analyzing, and presenting data, planners create stories and narratives that explain various planning issues. Particularly, in the era of big data and data mining, there is a stronger demand in planning practice and research to increase capacity for data-driven storytelling. Basic Quantitative Research Methods for Urban Planners provides readers with comprehensive knowledge and hands-on techniques for a variety of quantitative research studies, from descriptive statistics to commonly used inferential statistics. It covers statistical methods from chi-square through logistic regression and also quasi-experimental studies. At the same time, the book provides fundamental knowledge about research in general, such as planning data sources and uses, conceptual frameworks, and technical writing. The book presents relatively complex material in the simplest and clearest way possible, and through the use of real world planning examples, makes the theoretical and abstract content of each chapter as tangible as possible. It will be invaluable to students and novice researchers from planning programs, intermediate researchers who want to branch out methodologically, practicing planners who need to conduct basic analyses with planning data, and anyone who consumes the research of others and needs to judge its validity and reliability.