A Study on the Matching of Urban Form and Traffic Pattern

Abstract

Urban traffic is closely connected to urban planning and different urban forms have different traffic patterns. This paper studies the coupled relations among urban forms, rail traffic patterns, public transportation patterns, bicycle traffic patterns and pedestrian traffic patterns, and it may also serve as good reference to solving city traffic congestion. In the urban form of conglomeration, rail traffic lines fall into two types: diameter lines and ring lines, with the former linking satellite towns to the city, while the latter serving as the means by which the traffic in urban center is leaded and the passenger flows among satellite towns are conducted (Li Haifeng, 2006). In a star-shaped city, rail traffic lines radiate from the city center. Conventional public transport serves as feeders for rail transit and connects peripheral passengers to the trunk line. The framework of a star-shaped city is the axial rail transit, with the urban periphery being interlaced with green space, forests, farmland, etc, and thus an eco-city development pattern is formed. Though experts point out that this is the ideal urban form, urban system planning of major Chinese cities has shifted from centralization to decentralization, such as ribbon patterns and twin cities, etc., in favor of the development of rail transit. Rail traffic is environment-friendly. Cluster city is ideal for leading urban concentric circle development, forming clusters of various functions and land nature on the outskirts of a city, separated by green belts, which is the practice of the well-known Finnish planner Saarinen's theory on organic decentralization planning. Each cluster is a functional aggregation and daily life and work can be carried out in the cluster. Highway or rail transit links different clusters (Bian Jingwei, 2006). In Nantong, Qinhuangdao and other Chinese cities it is proposed that clusters be connected by light rail's diameter