The impact of urban development patterns on travel behaviour: Lessons learned from a British metropolitan region using macro-analysis and micro-analysis in addressing the sustainability agenda

AbstractThe objective of this paper is to gain a clearer understanding of the strategic relationship between a series of studies addressing the sustainability agenda. The analysis uses qualitative and quantitative data derived from two studies: the regional (macro) integrated transport and land-use model data and the micro-analysis of ten selected neighbourhoods, both of which have taken place in the North East of England. The interview with local authorities demonstrated that, despite the sustainability agenda being high on their list, there are issues with embracing social, economic and environmental aspects in equal manner, relating to transport. The macro-analysis shows that different land-use scenarios influence only a small part of travel behaviour. The main argument was that the changes in land-uses and transport provision are relatively marginal, compared to the existing development. The micro-study, on the other hand, demonstrated that it is the attitudes of citizens, rather than the neighbourhood characteristics, which play the bigger role in influencing the patterns of car travel, thus suggesting that future policy work on attitudes may have a bigger impact in influencing travel behaviour

Understanding neighbourhood design impact on travel behaviour

The objective of this study is to explore whether changes in neighbourhood characteristics bring about changes in travel choice. Residential self-selection is a concern in the connections between land-use and travel behaviour. The recent literature suggests that a longitudinal structural equations modelling (SEM) approach can be a powerful tool to assess the importance of neighbourhood characteristics on travel behaviour as opposed to the attitude-induced residential self-selection. However, the evidence to date is limited to particular geographical areas and evidence from one country might not be transferrable to another because of differences in land-use patterns and land-use policies. The paper is to address the gap by extending the evidence using British data. The case study is based on the metropolitan area of Tyne and Wear, North East of England, UK. A SEM is applied to 219 respondents who reported residential relocation. The results identify that neighbourhood characteristics do influence travel behaviour after controlling for self-selection. For instance, the more people are exposed to public transport access, the more likely they drive less. Neighbourhood characteristics also impact through their influence on car ownership. A social environment with vitality also reduces the amount of private car travel. These findings suggest that land-use policies at neighbourhood level can play an important role in reducing driving

Exploring changes in public transport use and walking following residential relocation:A British case study

The promotion of local sustainable travel is ever prominent within local transport plans, although it is still not well understood how the change to more sustainable and less carbon-based travel can be achieved. The objective of this study is to gain a better understanding of the travel choice mechanism following residential relocation. This paper uses a structural equations model and an ordered model to explore the drivers of public transport and walking use within an urban environment, using a quasi-longitudinal dataset from 10 communities in the metropolitan area of Tyne and Wear, in northeast England. The results show that changes in public transport use are determined by accessibility features of the built environment, alongside socio-demographic and travel attitude characteristics. Changes in walking, on the other hand, are determined mostly by built-environment characteristics. These findings suggest that a different approach is needed for the promotion of public transport use than for increasing walking trips (aside from walking to access public transport). The provision of public transport services needs to take into account the importance of the value of transport to users, to sufficiently attract and retain them. To promote walking, policy must focus on changes to the built environment (such as safety, travel accessibility, and the sociability of the environment), since it is changes in these characteristics that drive walking in the urban area