Urban growth and transport: understanding the spatial temporal relationship

Abstract

This paper describes how public transport and urban growth are strongly related. In fact, there is a reciprocal relationship between transport and urban growth. In order to understand this relationship, it is necessary to analyze urban spatial temporal changes and their related causes and effects. An extensive evidence-based and scientific description of the relationship between urban growth and transport is presented in this paper. This relationship is specifically explored for Jeddah City, Saudi Arabia, applying spatial temporal analysis techniques from remote sensing and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Spatial and statistical analyses have been used to analyze and relate urban growth and transport spatial temporal indicators. Results indicate a strong reciprocal relationship between urban growth and transport in Jeddah City. The paper found that transport infrastructure expansion strongly correlates with population growth, spatial expansion and land use change. Results also reveal that population growth has increased urban trips and the consequent travel demand, and there is imbalance between travel demand and transport infrastructure supply that explains the increase in congestion. This study also points out a strong significant influence of transport infrastructure on spatial temporal expansion and land use change. It is found that highways and main roads have stronger influence on spatial expansion and land use change in comparison with secondary roads. Although, this study provides significant information for transport and urban development policies, further research is encouraged to use spatial statistical analysis and dynamic modeling to study the reciprocal relationship between urban growth and transport.