Chinese cities’ built-up environment’s impacts on the accessibility level of mobility alternatives – innovation in ‘neighborhood typology’ approaches

Abstract

In my dissertation research, I explored the spatial transformation of the built environment of residential land use among three Chinese cities: Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen. I chose Shenzhen as a representative case to investigate the impacts of Chinese land-use reform policy on features of the built environment. Further, how changes to the built environment influence the accessibility levels of mobility alternatives. I created three levels of spatial pattern analysis (TLSPA) to capture the spatial transformation process of the built environment in the residential land use of Chinese cities. The TLSPA and chosen variables of the built environment were inspired by land-use variables such as ‘density’, ‘roadway connectivity’, ‘access to transit’ and ‘neighbourhood typology’. Unlike other research linking land-use variables and impacts on travel behaviour, the TLSPA uses GIS tools to analyse the spatial features of the land-use variables and their impacts on the accessibility level to different transport modes. In addition, the TLSPA reveals the impacts on transport mode development caused by the relevant planning codes. The research provides interesting insights into the spatial transformation process and its internal connection to motorisation development in Chinese cities. The spatial transformation of the built environment supports the development of the automobile mode of transport on three spatial levels. Spatial level I: findings from the chosen Chinese cities include decreasing roadway connectivity and increasing land plots sizes, which support the development of the automobile as a transport mode. Spatial level II: the Shenzhen sample further revealed the lack of integration between land use and public transport planning at the neighbourhood level. Spatial level III: the spatial typology of real estate projects in Shenzhen is transforming towards a gated-community pattern with a huge amount of parking facilities. The neighbourhood typology is a key factor extending the accessing distance to public transport service nodes. The spatial transformation of the built environment on three spatial levels thus often intensifies accessibility level to the automobile instead of public transport modes. The TLSPA proved that the built environment in Chinese cities has transformed into an automobile-dependent spatial structure (ADSS) and led to weak spatial connections to public transport modes. Based on the analysis, the study developed a series of ‘pull’ and ‘push’ schemes to stop the trend of ADSS development. These consist of political, economic, social and technical approaches to enhance the planning of non-motorised transport modes in Chinese residential land-use planning. The study pointed out three spatial levels of low-carbon mobility strategies of residential land use planning for China.