Built Environment as Determinant of Walking Behavior: Analyzing Nonwork Pedestrian Travel in Portland, Oregon

Abstract

Much has been written about the connection between land use/urban form and transportation from the perspective of affecting automobile trip generation. This addresses only half the issue. The theoretical advances in land use–transportation relationships embodied in paradigms such as the jobs-housing balance, neotraditional design standards, and transitoriented development rely very heavily on the generation of pedestrian traffic to realize their proposed benefits. The present analysis uses models and data sets similar to those used in previous work for the Portland, Oregon, area but applies them toward analysis of nonwork walking travel. The results suggest that regardless of the effects that land use has on individual nonwork walking trip generation, the impacts take place at the neighborhood level.