Browsing by Subject "Urban form"

Now showing 1 - 17 of 17

Accessibility, urban form, and property value: A study of Pudong, Shanghai
(Journal of Transport and Land Use, 2018) Guan, ChengHe; Peiser, Richard B.
The effects of metro system development and urban form on housing prices highly depend on the spatial temporal conditions of urban neighborhoods. However, scholars have not yet comprehensively examined these interactions at a neighborhood-scale. This study assesses metro access, urban form, and property value at both the district- and neighborhood-level. The study area is Pudong, Shanghai, where metro system development has coincided with rapid urban growth. Two hundred and seventy-nine neighborhoods from 13 districts of Shanghai are randomly selected for the district-level investigation and 31 neighborhoods from Pudong are selected for the neighborhood-level investigation. The analysis of variance shows that metro access is more positively correlated to property price in Pudong than other districts. The Pearson correlation, principle component, and ordinary least square regression analyses show that while accessibility attributes have a positive influence on housing prices, neighborhood characteristics also exhibit a pronounced impact on property price change over time. This study extends our knowledge on how metro system development interacts with land-use efficiency and discusses planning policies that correspond to different stages of development.
Analysis of the effect of multi-level urban form on bikeshare demand: Evidence from seven large metropolitan areas in the United States
(Journal of Transport and Land Use, 2020) Nasri, Arefeh; Younes, Hannah; Zhang, Lei
Bikeshare programs in their current form have been in place for several years in many cities across the United States. Encouraging people to use bikeshare for their daily routine travel has numerous social, economic, environmental, and health benefits. Therefore, it is important to understand factors influencing bikeshare use in different urban areas to improve the system and encourage more use. This paper investigates how the built environment at both local and regional scales influences bikeshare use in seven large metropolitan areas in the U.S. The study areas include Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, San Francisco, San Jose, and Washington, D.C., and the data consists of about 12 million bike trips from approximately 2,000 stations over a one-year period. In addition to linear regression models built for each individual city for comparison purposes, a multi-level mixed effect regression model is built to predict the number of trips originated from each station with respect to the local and regional built environment pattern. The results are consistent with previous research on the effect of land use at the local level on bikeshare demand and show that residential density, regional diversity, pedestrian-oriented road network density, and job accessibility via transit all have a significant positive effect on bikeshare demand. At the regional level, results suggest that the overall level of mixed-use development and overall bike-friendliness in the region (i.e., exclusive bike routes, right-of-way, and bike facilities) and higher congestion level in the region are significant factors influencing bikeshare activities and demand. Models developed in this study could be applied to other communities that are seeking to improve and/or expand their bikeshare systems, as well as cities planning to launch new bikeshare programs.
Cities as Organisms: Allometric Scaling of Urban Road Networks
(Journal of Transport and Land Use, 2008) Samaniego, Horacio; Moses, Melanie E.
Just as the cardiovascular network distributes energy and materials to cells in an organism, urban road networks distribute energy, materials and people to locations in cities. Understanding the topology of urban networks that connect people and places leads to insights into how cities are organized. This paper proposes a statistical approach to determine features of urban road networks that affect accessibility. Statistics of road networks and traffic patterns across 425 U.S. cities show that urban road networks are much less centralized than biological vascular networks. As a result, per capita road capacity is independent of the spatial extent of cities. In contrast, driving distances depend on the size of the city, although not as much as is predicted by a completely centralized model. This intermediate pattern between centralized and decentralized extremes may reflect a mixture of different travel behaviors. The approach presented here offers a novel macroscopic perspective on the differences between small and large cities and on how road infrastructure and traffic might change as cities grow.
Does travel behavior matter in defining urban form? A quantitative analysis characterizing distinct areas within a region
(Journal of Transport and Land Use, 2014) Jacques, Cynthia; El-Geneidy, Ahmed
Research that attempts to characterize urban form is confronted with two key issues: criticism of the use of aggregate units of analysis, such as census tracts, and a general lack of consideration of variables related to elements other than the built environment, such as residents’ behavior. This methodological study explores the impact of travel behavior variables in the quantitative characterization of urban form at the census tract level for the Montreal region. Two separate factor-cluster analyses are performed: the first includes built-environment variables commonly used to typify areas within a region, and a second includes additional travel behavior variables. The results of both models are compared to satellite images to determine which analysis more accurately represents the reality on the ground. The results provide empirical evidence that travel behavior variables, in addition to built form, provide a more accurate representation of urban form at the census tract level. These variables refine the model output by moderating the effect of features that generally led to misleading results. This effect is particularly evident in areas represented by large census tracts. These results suggest that considering both built environment and behavioral characteristics in an analysis of urban form yields more precise results at the (aggregate) census tract level. The findings from this study could be helpful for engineers and planners when conducting property value studies, urban investment analysis, and policy intervention prioritization and when expanding the well-known land use classification of urban and rural categories.
Does urban form influence automobile trip frequency in Accra, Ghana?
(Journal of Transport and Land Use, 2020) Oppong-Yeboah, Nana Yaw; Gim, Tae-Hyoung Tommy
Sustainable mobility is gaining increasing attention as it is seen as an approach to effectively reduce automobile travel and simultaneously encourage other modes of travel. To this end, it is imperative that scholars provide planners and policymakers with adequate empirical evidence to enable them to make informed decisions. In this sense, this study attempts to understand how socio-demographics, urban form (town center proximity-walk accessibility and other locational characteristics), perception and satisfaction pertaining to public transport influence automobile trip frequency. It particularly employs a partial least square structural equation modelling approach with the aim of appreciating the complexities in the land use-travel behavior interaction with the aid of data from the 2012 National Household Travel Survey of Ghana. The paper finds that the main explanatory factors identified in the land use-transportation-travel behavior literature are deemed significant in the case of Accra with socio-demographics yielding the largest magnitude. Also, public transport satisfaction turns out to have a negative influence on automobile trips.
Does where you live affect how much you spend on transit? The link between urban form and household transit expenditures in Mexico City
(Journal of Transport and Land Use, 2017) Guerra, Erick
Long and expensive transit trips burden millions of households in many low- and middle-income cities. Geography likely plays an important role. In Mexico City, suburban households earn 30% less than urban households, have 40% longer commutes, and spend nearly twice as much per transit trip. This paper examines the relationship between where households live in Mexico City and how much they spend on transit using a large metropolitan household travel survey matched to measures of the built environment. Transit expenditures vary systematically with neighborhood population density, land-use diversity, municipal job density, street network density, and distance to the metro and urban center. These relationships are complex and nonlinear but robust with the inclusion of household income, size, and structure. They are also relatively strong with job density, destination diversity, distance to the metro, and population density being as strongly correlated with transit expenditures as household income. In dollar values, the savings associated with more convenient household locations are substantial and in the same ballpark as total metro fare revenues and a back-of-the-envelope estimate of the total daily external costs of suburban congestion.
The influence of urban form and socio-demographics on active transport: A 40-neighborhoods study in Chengdu, China
(Journal of Transport and Land Use, 2020) Guan, ChengHe; Forsyth, Ann
In China, a centralized planning culture has created similar neighborhoods across the country. Using a survey of 1,048 individuals conducted in 2016 in Chengdu—located in a carefully conceptualized typology of neighborhood forms—we analyzed the associations between individual and neighborhood characteristics and active or nonmotorized transport behavior. Using several multiple logistic and multilevel models, we show how neighborhoods were categorized and how the number of categories or neighborhood types affected the magnitude of the associations with active transport but not the direction. People taking non-work trips were more likely to use active compared with motorized modes in all neighborhood types. Neighborhood type was significant in models but so too were many other individual-level variables and infrastructural and locational features such as bike lanes and location near the river. Of the 3-D physical environment variables, floor area ratio (a proxy for density) was only significant in one model for non-work trips. Intersection density and dissimilarity (land-use diversity) were only significant in a model for work trips. This study shows that to develop strong theories about the connections between active transport and environments, it is important to examine different physical and cultural contexts and perform sensitivity analyses. Research in different parts of China can help provide a more substantial base for evidence-informed policymaking. Planning and design recommendations were made related to active transport need to consider how neighborhoods, built environments, and personal characteristics interact in different kinds of urban environments.
The influence of urban form on car travel following residential relocation: A current and retrospective study in Scottish urban areas
(Journal of Transport and Land Use, 2014) Woods, Lee; Ferguson, Neil
Spatial planning and policy continues to be used as a tool to bring about changes in travel behavior. Policy suggests that by creating particular urban forms, demand for travel by car can be reduced. This paper uses data collected in 2006 from 280 households in Glasgow and Edinburgh to analyze the relationships between urban form and vehicle miles driven, with an emphasis on those who had recently relocated. Population densities, housing type, distance to urban center, and measures of mix were collected for the current residential location and prior residence for those who had relocated in the previous three years. An ordinal regression model of change in urban form showed significant associations with reported change in miles driven, although the effect was small compared with the effects of socioeconomic factors and car ownership. While the results give some weight to intensification as a policy to bring about a reduction in average distance driven, there may be an increase in total distance driven in the intensified area with a corresponding increase in congestion. Whether such intensification can be enacted against a backdrop of preferences toward suburban, car-oriented living is contentious. As such, this study calls into question the use of planning policy as a means to reduce car use in Scottish cities.
The Interactions between E-Shopping and Store Shopping: A Case Study of the Twin Cities
(2010-08) Cao, Jason; Douma, Frank; Cleaveland, Fay; Xu, Zhiyi
This research aims to reveal the interactions between e-shopping and in-store shopping using a sample of Internet users in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area. This report summarizes previous research on the interactions among spatial attributes, e-shopping, and travel behavior and makes eight recommendations for future research. Guided by the recommendations, this study adopts an innovative research design by integrating a conventional shopping survey with an activity diary. This report provides a detailed description of survey development and implementation and points out several common pitfalls in survey administration. This report also presents results on the interactions. Specifically, two ordered probit models and structural equation models were developed to investigate the influence of geography on online shopping usage and the influence of e-shopping on traditional shopping.
A multi-dimensional multi-level approach to measuring the spatial structure of U.S. metropolitan areas
(Journal of Transport and Land Use, 2018) Nasri, Arefeh; Zhang, Lei
For many years, attempts to measure the urban structure and physical form of metropolitan areas have been focused on a limited set of attributes, mostly density and density gradients. However, the complex nature of the urban form requires the consideration of many other dimensions to provide a comprehensive measure that includes all aspects of the urban structure and growth pattern at different hierarchical levels. In this paper, a multi-dimensional method of measuring urban form and development patterns in urban areas of the United States is presented. The methodology presented here develops several variables and indices that contribute to the characterization and quantification of the overall physical form of urban areas at various hierarchical levels. Cluster analysis is performed to group metropolitan areas based on their urban form and land-use pattern. This allows for a better utilization of land-use transportation planning and policy analyses used by planners and researchers. This clustering of urban areas could eventually help policymakers and decision makers in the decision-making process to evaluate land-use transportation policies, identify similar patterns, and understand how similar policies implemented in urban areas with similar urban form structure would result in more efficient and successful planning in the future.
A multidimensional decisions modeling framework for built space supply
(Journal of Transport and Land Use, 2013) Farooq, Bilal; Miller, Eric; Haider, Murtaza
The spatial and temporal distribution of built space supply plays an important role in shaping urban form and thus the general travel pattern in an urban area. Within an integrated framework, we are interested in modeling the decisions of a builder in terms of when, where, what type, and how much built space to build. We present a multidimensional discrete-continuous model formulation for the built space supply decisions that are based on expected profit maximization. The framework is applied to estimate a model for supply of new office space in the greater Toronto area (GTA) for the 1986 to 2006 period. To our knowledge, this work is the first that models the where, when, how much, and what type of office space to build in a single econometric framework at a fairly disaggregate spatial zoning system. The results indicate risk taker behavior on the builders’ part, while market conditions and supply of resources (labor, construction cost, etc.) are also found to be important factors in decision making.
The paths from walk preference to walk behavior: Applying latent factors in structural equation modeling
(Journal of Transport and Land Use, 2012) Coogan, Matthew; Adler, Thomas; Karash, Karla
A structural regression model has been developed to explore the relationship among key factors in the explanation of utilitarian walking. The model examines the relationship between and among unobserved, or “latent,” factors that reflect (1) the values and preferences operant at the time of residential selection; (2) the urban form of the neighborhood; (3) the urban form of the residence; (4) the level of auto dependency; and (5) the extent to which the neighborhood is found satisfactory by the participant and those whose opinions he/she respects. The model allows the detailed examination of the paths from initial inclination toward a neighborhood with walkable destinations, through a series of mediating unobserved factors, each of which might either impede or facilitate the adoption of utilitarian walking. Analysis of the model results shows that values and preferences held at the time of residential selection are directly associated with the amount of utilitarian walking undertaken and indirectly associated through their influence on the choice of the built environment and the extent of auto orientation. The model is designed to facilitate the observation of the manner in which the various factors interact.
The relationship between urban form and mode choice in US and Mexican cities: A comparative analysis of workers’ commutes
(Journal of Transport and Land Use, 2021) Guerra, Erick; Li, Meiqing
This paper examines empirical relationships among commuters’ mode choice, metropolitan urban form, and socioeconomic attributes in the 100 largest urban areas in the United States and Mexico. Fitting multinomial logit models to data for more than 5 million commuters and their home urban area, we find several consistent relationships and several important differences in relationships among urban form and travel behavior. In both countries, urban residents living in housing types associated with more centrally located housing in more densely populated urban areas with less roadway are less likely to commute by private vehicle than similar residents in other housing types and other urban areas. In addition to some differences in the strength, significance, and signs of several predictor variables, we find large differences in elasticity estimates across contexts. In particular, the US’s high rates of driving and generally car-friendly urban form mean that even dramatic shifts in urban form or income result in only small predicted changes in the probability of commuting by private vehicle. We conclude that land use and transportation policies likely have a more substantial role in shaping commute patterns in countries like Mexico than in countries like the US.
Shorter commutes, but for whom? Comparing the distributional effects of Bus Rapid Transit on commute times in Cape Town, South Africa, and Barranquilla, Colombia
(Journal of Transport and Land Use, 2021) Santana Palacios, Manuel; Rayle, Lisa
Bus rapid transit has become an increasingly popular investment in cities in the Global South, where policy discourse often positions BRT as a pro-poor investment. Planners usually expect BRT to reduce commute times in urban areas, particularly for economically disadvantaged populations, thus reducing mobility gaps between transit users across different socioeconomic population groups. Despite increased interest in BRT, there is surprisingly limited research testing these assumptions. Using data from a retrospective survey administered in Barranquilla, Colombia, and Cape Town, South Africa, we investigated whether BRT contributes to reducing commute time gaps between socioeconomic populations. Our comparative and distributional analyses indicate that, while BRT narrowed the gap in commute times in Cape Town, it did not contribute to closing the gap in Barranquilla. We argue that this contradiction may, in part, be explained by the degree to which BRT route configuration responded to the urban form and pre-BRT transit conditions in each city—two factors often overlooked in academic literature and discussions surrounding BRT planning. We close by providing policy recommendations that promote more equitable planning practices and recognize the links between transport and land uses in the Global South urban context.
Stay local or go regional? Urban form effects on vehicle use at different spatial scales: A theoretical concept and its application to the San Francisco Bay Area
(Journal of Transport and Land Use, 2015) Milakis, Dimitris; Cervero, Robert; van Wee, Bert
This paper explores the respective roles of local and regional characteristics of urban form on vehicle travel. We hypothesize that the effects of urban form on vehicle use at the local and regional levels are complementary, and we introduce the concept of local and regional action spaces, which are defined based on the accessibility of alternative means of transport within an acceptable travel time, to test this hypothesis. Multilevel and ordered logit models are developed for the San Francisco Bay Area to estimate the effects of urban form and socioeconomic characteristics on vehicle kilometers traveled (VKT) and vehicle trip frequency (for work, shopping, and social/recreational purposes). We find that the two urban scale characteristics exert complementary effects on VKT. However, because people in the San Francisco Bay Area display significantly lower VKT in the local than in the regional action space, we conclude that regional-scale interventions would contribute more to the policy objective of VKT reduction, although local-scale design policies might also help reach this policy goal. Intersection density (for the local action space models) and regional jobs accessibility (for the regional action space models) demonstrated the strongest and most significant relationships with VKT. The built environment did not appear to significantly affect vehicle trip frequency, which is likely due to the uniformly high levels of vehicle use in both the local and regional action spaces in the area.
Urban form and travel behavior: Experience from a Nordic context
(Journal of Transport and Land Use, 2012) Næss, Petter
This article surveys the results of research carried out in the Nordic countries on the influence of various aspects of urban form and settlement patterns on travel behavior and discusses these results in the view of studies carried out in other European, American, Australian, and Asian countries. There is overwhelming evidence that urban spatial structures matter to travel behavior. However, whereas much of the research in America and parts of Europe has focused on the influences of local neighborhood characteristics on travel, the Nordic research shows effects on travel behavior mainly from urban form characteristics at a higher geographical scale: the overall population density within continuous urban areas and the locations of residences and workplaces relative to the city-level or metropolitan center structure.
Using trip chaining and joint travel as mediating variables to explore the relationships among travel behavior, socio-demographics, and urban form
(Journal of Transport and Land Use, 2017) Chen, Yu-Jen; Akar, Gulsah
Using the 2012 Household Travel Survey data for the Cleveland metropolitan area, this study aims to examine the connections between travel behavior by using trip chaining and joint travel as mediating variables of travel distances and controlling for socio-demographics and urban form. Trip chaining and joint travel capture the complexity of tours and intra-household interactions, respectively. Socio-demographics represent personal and household characteristics. Urban form, which is measured not only at tour origins but also at tour destinations, helps capture the effects of residential density, retail and non-retail densities, transportation connectivity, public transit accessibility, and land-use mix. Structural equation model (SEM) approaches are applied to examine the interrelationships among these variables. The model results reveal that significant effects with expected signs exist among travel behavior: Trip chaining is negatively associated with joint travel and positively related to travel distances, and joint travel has negative effects on travel distances. Consistent with existing literature, socio-demographic attributes are strong explanatory factors of travel behavior. Urban form characteristics have significant influence on travel distances at both tour origins and destinations. The findings of this study will improve the future evaluation of transportation projects and land-use policymaking.

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