Compact Land Research Articles

Built Environment and Parking Availability: Impacts on Car Ownership and Use

Along with urbanization and economic development, the number of private cars has increased rapidly in recent years in China, which contributes to concerns about traffic congestion, hard parking, energy consumption, and emissions. This study aims to investigate the joint effect of built environment and parking availability on car ownership and use based on a household travel survey conducted in Changchun, China. The binary logistic model was first employed to investigate the determinants of the car ownership in Changchun. Next, this study examined the potential impacts of the built environment and parking availability on car use for the journey to work. The result shows that built environment and parking availability can be both significantly associated with car ownership and use after controlling for the socio-economic characteristics. Moreover, in contrast with the model ignoring the parking availability, the model for car use considering the joint effect fit the data better. The results indicate that car dependency depends on the joint effect of the built environment and parking availability. These results suggest that transit-oriented urban expansion and compact land use can contribute to reducing car commuting. Meanwhile, parking restrictions at both trip start and end would be effective for sustainable transport because parking oversupply could encourage more car dependency.

The Impact of Compact and Mixed Development on Land Value: A Case Study of Richmond, Virginia

Sustainable development entails various development patterns commonly associated with compact and mixed development that usually leads to reduced driving, more public transportation utilization, lower energy consumption, better walkability, and improved public health. To examine if the benefits of compact and mixed development are reflected in land value, this study sets forth to measure development compactness and land use mix and assesses the impacts of such patterns on land value. Impacts of accessibility to jobs, retail stores, and public transportation on land value are also investigated and compared to the impacts from development patterns. The study finds that: (1) accessibility has greater impacts than development pattern on land value; (2) compact development and mixed land use influence land value differently depending on the nature of existing land uses and land values; (3) accessibility to jobs and retail stores always contributes to the increase of land value; and (4) accessibility to public transportation helps but it does not influence land value in a consistent fashion. The results suggest that areas with higher residential property values, good proximity to the city center, less industrial land uses, and good access to jobs and retail stores have greater potential to realize an increase of land value resulted from compact and mixed development in Richmond, Virginia.

2256 - Transport Policy Measures for Climate Change as Drivers for Health in Cities

Climate change is an urgent challenge that requires action at the national, regional and local levels. However, a perception that impacts on human wellbeing and the economy will only be felt in the distant future, and a belief that climate action would require reducing attention towards a host of other environmental and societal issues, stand in the way of measures being taken. With cities emerging as key actors in fighting climate change as well as other societal and environmental issues, this chapter provides a review of the ways urban climate action provides direct and more immediate benefits —in climate terms, ‘co-benefits’— to public health. We focus on the impacts of five key transport policy measures which have been established to yield significant greenhouse gas reductions and substantial economic benefits. These are: (1) compact land use planning to reduce motorised passenger travel demand, (2) passenger modal shift and improving transit efficiency, (3) electrification and passenger vehicle efficiency, (4) freight logistics and (5) freight vehicle efficiency and electrification. We show that these measures have great potential to improve public health in urban areas whilst mitigating climate change, and provide arguments that in some cases these benefits may rival, or exceed, benefits to the economy and climate from these actions. We conclude that climate change action in the transport sector represents a great opportunity for policymakers to develop transport roadmaps that jointly achieve climate change objectives and improve public health in cities.

Application of Bayesian Multilevel Models Using Small and Medium Size City in China: The Case of Changchun

Concerns about transportation energy consumption and emissions force urban planners and policy makers to pay more attention to the effects of car ownership and use on the environment in China. However, few studies have investigated the relationship between the built environment and car ownership and use in China, especially in mid-sized and small cities. This study uses Changchun, China as a case study and examines the potential impacts of the built environment and socio-demographics on car ownership and use for commuting simultaneously using Bayesian multilevel binary logistic models. Furthermore, the spatial autocorrelation of car ownership and use is recognized across traffic analysis zones (TAZs), which are specifically represented by the conditional autoregressive (CAR) model. The estimated results indicate that socio-demographic characteristics have significant effects on car ownership and use. Moreover, the built environment measured at the TAZ level still shows a significant association with other factors controlled. Specifically, it suggests that denser residential density, compact land use, better transit services and street connectivity can reduce car dependency more effectively. This study provides new insights into how the built environment influences the car ownership and use, which can be useful for urban planners and policy makers to develop strategies for reducing car dependency.

An Analysis of the Relationship between Land Use and Weekend Travel: Focusing on the Internal Capture of Trips

Weekend travel has not been duly considered in academics and practice regarding its relationship with land use. A lack of consideration is notable in terms of how land use internalizes weekend travel. Thus, by separating the internal and external travel of the traffic analysis zone, this study analyzes the land use effect on weekend travel in comparison with that on weekday travel. Two structural equation models, each of which is specified for weekday and weekend travel, construct the same sample and their results become comparable. At the travel variable level, the models find consistent results: Stronger effects are made on internal travel than on external travel and particularly, on trip frequency than on travel time. This implies that compact land use causes a stronger addition of internal trips and a less strong reduction of external trips, that is, changes in destinations rather than in total travel time. At the factor level, unlike the weekday model in which the sociodemographic factor exerts a stronger effect, the weekend model presents that land use more strongly affects travel patterns. This magnitude difference is explained by the different flexibility of compulsory weekday travel and discretionary weekend travel in relation to the choice of trip destination and frequency.

Full Random Coefficients Multilevel Modeling of the Relationship between Land Use and Trip Time on Weekdays and Weekends

Interests in weekend trips are increasing, but few have studied how they are affected by land use. In this study, we analyze the relationship between compact land use characteristics and trip time in Seoul, Korea by comparing two research models, each of which uses the weekday and weekend data of the same travelers. To secure sufficient numbers of subjects and groups, full random coefficients multilevel models define the trip as level one and the neighborhood as level two, and find that level-two land use characteristics account for less variation in trip time than level-one individual characteristics. At level one, weekday trip time is found to be reduced by the choice of the automobile as a travel mode, but not by its ownership per se. In addition, it becomes reduced if made by high income travelers and extended to travel to quality jobs. Among four land use characteristics at level two, population density, road connectivity, and subway availability are shown to be significant in the weekday model. Only subway availability has a positive relationship with trip time and this finding is consistent with the level-one result that the choice of automobile alternatives increases trip time. The other land use characteristic, land use balance, turns out to be a single significant land use variable in the weekend model, implying that it is concerned mainly with non-work, non-mandatory travel.

Examining the effects of residential self-selection on internal and external validity: an interaction moderation analysis using structural equation modeling

Empirical studies on the land use–travel relationship have begun to consider the confounding or moderating effect of residential self-selection on the relationship. The studies were mainly focused on how to control for selection bias in relation to its threat to internal validity, but the bias also harms external validity through its interaction with explanatory variables. This study further considers this interaction moderation using partial least squares structural equation modeling, which compared to its covariance-based counterpart, can easily specify a large number of interaction indicators and include both reflective (compact land use) and formative (life situation inclined to automobile travel) constructs. Tested in Seoul, South Korea, structural equation models find that a considerable proportion of the land use effect on travel time is attributed to the self-selection. Regarding the interaction moderation, it turns out to significantly affect external validity: in a study area with more automobile-inclined residents than Seoul, compact land use may exert a stronger effect on automobile travel reductions and transit travel increases.

How does parking interplay with the built environment and affect automobile commuting in high-density cities? A case study in China

This study investigates an important but often overlooked problem – the interaction between parking and land use – to examine the effects of the built environment on car commuting. Using the case of Shenzhen, China, a structural equation model is employed to examine the tripartite relationship among the built environment, parking supply and car commuting. The parking–built environment relationship partly reflects the parking supply mechanism that is collectively influenced by the parking market and regulations. The results indicate that, because of the high cost of constructing parking, property developers are reluctant to build sufficient parking spaces for the residential population in densely built neighbourhoods with small lot sizes. However, minimum parking standards often lead to more parking provisions in dense central locations. Therefore, the benefits of compact land use and transit-oriented development (TOD) for reducing car use are either reinforced or offset depending on the various interrelationships between parking and the built environment. In the context of policy implications, a fine-grained urban fabric should be particularly supported, considering its significant effects in reducing car commuting, as well as its potential role in fostering a well-functioning parking market. Meanwhile, imposing parking caps in dense and central areas would be wise because parking oversupply encourages more car trips, which counteracts the sustainable merits of dense developments.

Does compact land use trigger a rise in crime and a fall in ridership? A role for crime in the land use–travel connection

Studies in the land use–travel connection have long neglected the role of neighbourhood crime. This paper analyses such a role of crime and explores whether more compact land-use characteristics tend to cluster more crimes, thus having a negative impact on public transit use. A path analysis model is used to estimate the relationship between land use, crime, and bus ridership in the city of Austin, Texas. The results demonstrate that higher population density and more mixed land use may significantly stimulate more crimes near the bus stops while the level of crime may have a nonlinear effect on ridership. Once the number of reported crimes exceeds a threshold level, ridership is negatively affected. As a result, very dense residential and commercial development may trigger a rise in crimes, leading to a fall in ridership. These findings suggest that those who seek to implement land use policies to increase transit use and reduce auto dependence should recognise and evaluate land use impact on crime and how this impact affects travel behaviours.

Urban greenway and compact land use development: A multilevel assessment in Seoul, South Korea

This study uses multilevel logit models to analyze the impact of urban greenway projects on land use in Seoul, Korea. Results derived from the use of land use change models confirm that the conversion of land from single-family residential use to commercial use is more likely to occur within 1.5km of the Cheong Gye Cheon (CGC) greenway pedestrian entrances; conversions from single-family housing to mixed use appeared to a lesser extent within the same distance bands. However, land used for single-family housing could be converted to high-rises and dense housing (condominiums) within the band 3–4km from the entrances. In addition, commercial land is more likely to be converted to mixed use land within 500m of the CGC corridor entrances, while mixed use land tends to be converted into commercial land within the 1.5-km band and within 3.5–4km of the pedestrian entrance along the urban greenway. These results suggest that urban greenway infrastructure can effectively encourage higher-density residential and commercial development. Furthermore, appealing amenities in the greenway attract people and firms and thus promote the demand for further property development. Finally, this study confirms that we need to keep a holistic view in linking the urban greenway, land use patterns, and transportation systems for sustainable and livable cities.

The gender gap in non-work travel: The relative roles of income earning potential and land use

We empirically test two hypotheses: (1) that gender differences in income earning potential play a role in the within-household division of non-work travel and (2) that compact land use development can reduce the within-household gender gap in non-work travel. Using the 2001 Southern California Household Travel Survey, we find that non-work travel patterns for men and women do not vary much by gender unless children are in the household. Households with children display a striking difference in chauffeuring trips and women bear most of the chauffeuring burden. Adjusting for sociodemographics, women in households with children take over 300% more chauffeuring trips than do men living alone. The difference in chauffeuring trips among females and males within the household, the “within-household, female–male chauffeuring gap”, is larger for households with employed males and smaller in households with employed females. The chauffeuring gap is smaller when the woman’s earning power is larger compared to the man in the same household. The chauffeuring gap is larger for households that have higher amounts of single family residential land use in the quarter-mile area around their residence, and the chauffeuring gap is larger for households that live farther than a half mile from the nearest bus stop. The magnitude of the effect of those two land use variables on the chauffeuring gap is similar to the magnitude of variables that measure within-household differences in income-earning potential or female and male employment status, suggesting that more dense land use and better transit service can help reduce disproportionate chauffeuring burdens of women.

The implications of and institutional barriers to compact land development for transportation: Evidence from Bejing

Land use patterns are believed to affect transportation, while low-capacity land-use management is often seen as one of the primary institutional barriers to sustainable transport. Examining the case of Beijing, this paper aims to contribute more evidence in relation to these issues. Over the past decades China’s megacities have witnessed a dramatic transition in land use from traditional compact development to sprawling development due to rapid urbanization. This study found that this transition has tended to increase car usage and thus worsen the emission of pollutants by transport in Beijing when growth of income and other socioeconomic factors are taken into account. It is apparent that compact land-use policies need to be reintroduced to reduce car use. However, there are several institutional barriers related to the reintroduction of compact development in the current context of transition from a centrally planned system to a market system in China’s cities. In particular, increasing fragmentation in the realm of land-development management has created serious challenges to the implementation of compact land-development policies. Therefore, institutional capacity building is needed to enable compact land-use policies to control local sprawl and promote sustainable transport.

Travel Time and Distance in International Perspective: A Comparison between Nanjing (China) and the Randstad (The Netherlands)

While Western countries are trying to reduce car dependency on the back of low carbon objectives, the ownership and use of private cars in urban China is increasing dramatically. In this paper, light is shed on both developments through a comparative study of the travel behaviour in two regions with a very different built environment: Nanjing, China, and the Randstad in the Netherlands. Controlled for car ownership, daily travel time and distance are analysed in both regions. The results indicate that, in the case of Nanjing, the suggestion is that the configurations of current land use which support walking and cycling should be preserved as much as possible and that, in the meanwhile, investments should be made in fast public transport to facilitate economic developments. As regards the Randstad, it would seem wise to promote the use of walking and cycling by continuing to encourage compact land use patterns in combination with relatively fast public transport developments.

Konsumsi Bahan Bakar Minyak Kota Semarang Dan Kota Surakarta Ditinjau Dari Sistem Transportasi Dan Tipologi Kota

Fuel oil is the main fuel in the transportation sector. Transportation system and the city typology influence the fuel consumption of a city. This study aims to analyze and to compare the relationship of transportation system and the typology of the City of Semarang and the city of Surakarta to the fuel consumption of those cities. An analysis was performed using bivariate and multivariate-multivariable regression techniques. Uneven distribution of the population, public transport services dominated by passenger cars, and radial road network result in inefficient fuel consumption in the city of Semarang (0.27 kl/person). Meanwhile an even distribution of the population, public transport services dominated by public bus, and grid road network make fuel consumption more efficient in the city of Surakarta (0.18 kl/person). The use of large-capacity public transport and compact land use can make more efficient use of fuel.

Research on the Low-Carbon Land Use Pattern

The paper firstly analyzed the carbon emissions effect of the city land use. Then it put forward the high density compact land use pattern is consistent with low-carbon developing goal. Finally, the paper systematically expounded the connotation of the low-carbon high density compact mixed use, and discussed the basic forms of low-carbon land use pattern, such as the giant single building, buildings on the same platform, new units model on the community scale etc..

Transportation implications of metropolitan spatial planning in mega-city Beijing

In the mega-cities of developing countries, access to workplaces has become increasingly difficult due to dramatic rises in commuting times, reflecting both limited transport infrastructure and particular forms of metropolitan spatial planning. In the light of this, this article examines the impact of spatial planning on workers' commuting time, using the case of Beijing. The analysis, using travel data collected from 613 households in 2006, shows that workers' commuting time has a statistically significant relationship with location variables related to spatial planning, when socio-economic factors and transport provision are controlled for. Self-contained and high-density development as well as compact land use in the peripheral constellations could play a positive role in shortening workers' commuting times. At the same time, longer commuting times will result from illegal and dispersed development in green belts and outer suburban areas. The results suggest that better metropolitan spatial planning wo...

The Effects of Transport Accessibility and Jobs–Housing Balance on Commuting Time: Evidence from Beijing

Increases in commuting time have caused serious social and environmental problems in a physically fragmentizing mega-city. Some policy-makers attend to solve commuting-related problems through alternative land-use policies, in particular mixed land use and multi-functional structures, rather than mere transport programmes. This paper investigates the effects of the jobs–housing balance on commuting time at the community level in Beijing. The paper puts forward a new indicator of home-based job proximity to measure the jobs–housing balance. A 1500 household-based travel data set was used to aggregate the average commuting time of the 60 communities studied. Based on the results of a correlation analysis, findings suggest that home-based job proximity has the strongest significantly negative relationship with average community commuting time. In fact, the results of a two-step regression analysis suggest that 68.6% of the changes in average commuting time are explained overwhelmingly by the home-based job proximity variable. However, there are no significant associations between average commuting time and the variables of local public transport accessibility and private vehicle transport accessibility. Obviously, current urban policy, which relies predominantly on ambitious and expensive programmes of transport infrastructure provision must be rethought in Beijing. Improving the jobs–housing balance through the implemention of compact land development may be an alternative to reducing overall commuting duration.

コンパクトな都市と土地利用計画

コンパクトな都市と土地利用計画

Nonmotorized Transportation: The Forgotten Modes

For the last fifty years, the development of the U.S. transportation system has focused on providing for travel by private motor vehicle. Today, many people have no choice but to use a car for even the shortest trips. This transportation monoculture is the product of very deliberate policies, reflecting the special interests of the agencies and businesses directly connected to transportation. Serious problems are just around the curve, however, as we approach the limits of space, resources, and the carrying capacity of our environment. If we shift our view of transportation from a commodity to a cost, we will adopt different performance objectives, which will help lead us in the development of a more efficient, sustainable transportation system. This new system would feature greater attention to compact land use to make trips shorter and would make it both possible and likely that many people would choose to walk or bicycle.