Empirical Study on the Boundary Space Form of Residential Blocks Oriented Toward Low-Carbon Travel

Abstract

As one of the three major carbon sources in cities, urban mobility has posed severe challenges to the social environment. Promoting low-carbon travel for residents is an important measure for building a low-carbon city and mitigating climate change. However, to date, previous research on residents’ low-carbon travel has been more oriented toward urban planning, while quantitative research on the influence of the boundary space form of residential blocks on residents’ travel modes, which takes residential blocks as the research objects at the meso- and micro-level, is relatively rare. Residential blocks in China, which were built in the late 1990s, mostly have a large and gated spatial form. Individual residential blocks are often gated by fences, commercial buildings, and other forms of interfaces, forming an independent residential group. Long and closed boundary forms will have a certain impact on residents’ choice of low-carbon travel modes, such as walking, riding bikes, and so on. Taking Nanjing as an example, this paper explores the essential factors that impact residents’ travel behaviors from the perspective of the boundary space of residential blocks, combining the socio-economic attributes of residents, land use, and transit facilities, and there are four dimensions to the study, including the boundary block scale, types of boundary interface, density and distribution of accesses, and the slow-travel environment, proposing recommended values of the relevant indicators in a targeted manner. This paper selects 21 residential blocks in the main districts in Nanjing, conducting a related survey on the residents’ socio-economic attributes and travel characteristics, boundary space form, land use, and transit facilities. The data obtained from the survey are analyzed by correlation analysis and multiple logistic regression analysis, so as to screen out the key variables of the boundary space forms of the blocks that affect residents’ low-carbon travel. Meanwhile, on the basis of the appropriate share of low-carbon travel, the unary linear regression model is used to propose ideal recommended values of the key variables of the boundary space forms of the residential blocks. For instance, the block boundary density is recommended to be above 34.38 km/km², the permeability coefficient of the block interface should be above 0.43, the commercial interface ratio should be above 18.16 km/km², the density of accesses of the blocks is recommended to be above 246.71 km/km², and the cross-sectional ratio of the slow-travel roads should be above 0.5.