Abstract

In 21st century cities, an adequate urban design represents a great opportunity to reduce the number of trips and distances travelled. It is also known that improving city design and transportation networks could reduce carbon emissions more than replacing all fossil fuels with renewable energies. With this background, it seems fundamental to focus on the systemic relationship between urban forms and travel choices behaviours. In the case of the city of Cuenca (Ecuador,) in the last 5 years, more than 70 mono-functional urbanization and condos, many of them being gated-communities, have been built outside the urban limits. These form of urbanization is supported both by public and private promoters. Due to this situation, this research project seeks to determine the relationship between the location of these urbanizations and condos, with the travel choice behaviour of users. Geographic information systems, Q methodology, travel diaries and qualitative methods where used for data collection and spatial representation. Three discourses were found, people who preferred the proximity to nature and open spaces, other who gave more importance to efficient mobility and the last ones for whom security was the most important aspect. This work opens possibilities for further research on the importance of urban form for sustainable planning and mobility.

Highlights

  • Since the 50s in the United States middle and upper classes started to move away from the urban centres, leaving cities with low densities [1]

  • The majority of respondents aligned with this discourse, prioritized living in a gated community located in the periurban area, where the use of private vehicle for their daily commuting prevailed

  • They agreed to live in a horizontal condo or in a detached house as long as they were located in the periurban area and used private cars

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Summary

Introduction

Since the 50s in the United States middle and upper classes started to move away from the urban centres, leaving cities with low densities [1]. One of the principles that define peri-urbanization is mobility because there is a considerable increase in the distances people need to cover every day [1] This has originated an unmeasured exploitation of fossil fuels due to the excessive use of private vehicle as the principal mean of transportation [4]. The mobility conflict, added to the lack of investigations in the local context, ratifies the importance of performing studies that allow debate about the impacts that gated communities and condos in the periurban may generate in relation to travel choice behaviour and the city's energy consumption [5] With this background, the purpose of this research was to analyse people’s preferences regarding housing typology according to their location and travel choice behaviour, and to compare the displacements regarding transportation means depending on gender and location. The research was held in Cuenca, city located in the Andean region of Ecuador, with

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