JTLU Volume 5, No. 2 (2012)

Persistent link for this collection

https://hdl.handle.net/11299/170175

Table of Contents:

Viewpoint: Triumph of the City, pp. 1-4

Community design and how much we drive, pp. 5-21

Urban form and travel behavior: Experience from a Nordic context, pp. 21-45

Understanding spatial variations in the impact of accessibility on land value using geographically weighted regression, pp. 46-59

The impact of a new light rail system on single-family property values in Charlotte, North Carolina, pp. 60-67

Impacts of low-speed vehicles on transportation infrastructure and safety, pp. 68-76

The effects of transport infrastructure on regional economic development: A simulated spatial overlapping generations model with heterogenous skill, pp. 77-101

Evaluating the effects of land use and strategies for parking and transit supply on mode choice of downtown commuters, pp. 103-119

Book Review: Transport for suburbia: Beyond the automobile age, pp. 121-122

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Viewpoint: Triumph of the City
(Journal of Transport and Land Use, 2012) Glaeser, Edward
The inaugural meeting of the World Symposium on Transport and Land Use Research (WSTLUR) was held in Whistler, British Columbia, July 28–30, 2011. The conference brought together academics and practitioners at the intersection of economics, planning, and engineering in the fields of transport and land use.In addition to presentations based on rigorously peer-reviewed papers, the conference included a plenary presentation from Ed Glaeser, the Fred and Eleanor Glimp Professor of Economics with the Department of Economics, Harvard University, and author of the book Triumph of the City. Following are excerpts from Glaeser’s keynote address.
Community design and how much we drive
(Journal of Transport and Land Use, 2012) Marshall, Wesley; Garrick, Norman
The preponderance of evidence suggests that denser and more connected communities with a higher degree of mixed land uses results in fewer vehicle kilometers traveled (VKT). However, there is less agreement as the size of the effect. Also, there is no clear understanding as to the aspects of community design that are most important in contributing to lower VKT. One reason why there is some confusion on this point is that past studies have not always made a clear distinction between different community and street network design characteristics such as density, connectivity, and configuration. In this research, care was taken to fully characterize the different features of the street network including a street pattern classification system that works at the neighborhood level but also focuses on the citywide street network as a separate entity. We employ a spatial kriging analysis of NHTS data in combination with a generalized linear regression model in order to examine the extent to which community design and land use influence VKT in 24 California cities of populations from 30,000 to just over 100,000. Our results suggest that people living in denser street network designs tended to drive less. Connectivity, however, played an adverse role in performance.
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.
Understanding spatial variations in the impact of accessibility on land value using geographically weighted regression
(Journal of Transport and Land Use, 2012) Du, Hongbo; Mulley, Corinne
This paper aims to understand the spatial variability in house prices and accessibility. The motivation for understanding the connection between accessibility and house prices stems from the increasing attention given in recent years to the potential for funding transport infrastructure by land value capture policies. Establishing whether there is identifiable land value uplift, and further quantifying this uplift, is a prerequisite to sensible discussions on the potential for land value capture. Although there has been substantial related research in the United States, not only have there been fewer studies in the United Kingdom, but these have concentrated on London. London, as a capital city, differs in many respects from other cities. Large conurbations such as Manchester, Sheffield, and Tyne and Wear are more typical of British cities. This study focuses on the Tyne and Wear area, which has an extensive public transport system, with a light rail system—the Tyne and Wear Metro—forming the backbone of the public transport system. The investigation reported in this paper is underpinned by the use of Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) methodology with property prices as the dependent variable, which in turn is explained by independent variables designed to standardize for household features and spatially defined factors including the transport accessibility of the house location. This methodology allows for estimation of the importance of transport accessibility in determining house prices. The empirical results show that, on average, the internal factors of the property and the socioeconomic classification of its location are dominant determinants of property prices, but transport accessibility variables are also significant. However, the local model approach of GWR shows a significant spatially varying relationship between property prices and transport accessibility to be identified. This study contributes to a quantification of the impact of accessibility on house prices. Moreover, the paper demonstrates the application of a relatively new methodology in the transport field that takes account of the spatial nature of the data required in this process.
The impact of a new light rail system on single-family property values in Charlotte, North Carolina
(Journal of Transport and Land Use, 2012) Yan, Sisi; Delmelle, Eric; Duncan, Michael
This paper examines the impact of a new light rail system on single-family housing values in Charlotte, North Carolina, from 1997 to 2008. We use a Hedonic Price Analysis (HPA) to estimate how proximity to light rail, housing characteristics, and spatial components (at a block group level) affect single-family housing values. The same method is applied to each of the four time periods (t1, t2, t3, t4) that coincide with the pre-planning, planning, construction, and operation phase of the light rail system. We observe a trend that suggests a greater desirability to live closer to a light rail station as the transit system becomes operational.
Impacts of low-speed vehicles on transportation infrastructure and safety
(Journal of Transport and Land Use, 2012) Hunter-Zaworski, K. M.
Increasing numbers of low-speed electric vehicles (LSVs) now operate on public roadways. These vehicles are designed to be used within protected environments and on roadways with a maximum posted speed of 25 mph. Currently, these vehicles are not subject to the same federal requirements for occupant protection as passenger cars. The research reported in this paper investigated safety standards, operating regulations, and LSV manufacturer materials from sources around the world. The purpose of the research was to determine the positive and negative impacts that LSVs, including neighborhood electric vehicles (NEVs) and medium-speed electric vehicles (MSEVs), are likely to have for states such as Oregon and whether adjustments in state regulations are needed to ensure that LSVs do not negatively affect road safety and traffic operations or expose LSVs operators to undue risk. The US and Canadian federal motor vehicle safety agencies have harmonized their regulations and stipulated the maximum operating speed of these vehicles; however, state and local roadway authorities have regulated the maximum speed of roadways and intersection characteristics on which these vehicles can operate. The significant recommendations of this research are: (1) Appropriate state statues for LSVs should be amended such that LSVs are limited to public roadways with a maximum operating speed of 25 mph and are restricted to crossing higher speed roadways at four-way stop or signal-controlled intersections; and (2) Local transportation authorities should develop parallel or secondary low-speed roadway networks that connect residential neighborhoods with major activity centers.
The effects of transport infrastructure on regional economic development: A simulated spatial overlapping generations model with heterogenous skill
(Journal of Transport and Land Use, 2012) Tikoudis, Ioannis; Sundberg, Marcus; Karlström, Anders
As a result of public investment, lower freight transport costs tend to translate into lower local price indices and are associated with equilibria characterized by higher output and consumption. In this paper we investigate an additional effect to these trade gains, namely the gains from better spatial matching in the labor market. We simulate a two-region Spatial OLG model in which agents are heterogeneous in terms of skill. Under repeated simulation experiments, we show that, for high household relocation frictions, the possibility of interregional commuting can be seen as an alternative way to realize the potential matching effects. For high levels of skill heterogeneity and a plausible parametric input, a steady state in which labor matching is realized through commuting can be associated with up to 10% higher per capita output, compared to the one with homogenous labor, in which only gains from trade are feasible.
Evaluating the effects of land use and strategies for parking and transit supply on mode choice of downtown commuters
(Journal of Transport and Land Use, 2012) Zahabi, Seyed Amir; Miranda-Moreno, Luis. F.; Patterson, Zachary; Barla, Philippe
Metropolitan regions around the world are looking for sustainable strategies to reduce motor-vehicle traffic congestion, energy consumption, and emissions. These strategies include land-use policies as well as improvements to public transit services. This empirical work aims at studying the potential impact of land use (LU), public transit supply (PT), and parking pricing strategies on the mode choice of commuters living in the commuter rail line catchments in the Montreal (Canada) region. It makes use of an econometric modeling approach with both transportation mode choice and neighborhood type choice as simultaneous decisions, in order to take into account the endogeneity of these choices. The neighborhood choices are represented by neighborhood typologies derived from a cluster analysis using land use and transit supply indicators (population density, land use mix, and bus transit supply). As part of the outcomes of this study, the elasticities of mode choice with respect to commuter-transit fees, travel time reductions, and hourly parking costs are estimated. From the results, it is observed that a reduction of 10 percent in the transit fee or relative travel time would increase mode split by 10 percent and 3 percent respectively. The effect of age on both mode choice and neighborhood choice is also estimated. e individual and household structure factors associated with mode choice and/or residential neighborhood choice are also identified. Commuter age affects both outcomes. Income and gender affect mode choice while car ownership and the presence of children are linked to neighborhood choice.
Book review: Transport for suburbia: Beyond the automobile age, by Paul Mees
(Journal of Transport and Land Use, 2012) Schoner, Jessica E.
This book review summarizes and evaluates Transport for Suburbia: Beyond the Automobile Age, by Paul Mees (Earthscan Publishing, 2010). The argument in Transport for Suburbia is that density is not a necessary prerequisite for an effective transit system, and that transfers can be used as a tool to expand the scope of a transit network. Mees presents this argument and his suggestions for improving transit service through a series of narratives about car culture, land use, and best and worst case transit system scenarios.