Keywords: land use transport link

Keywords: active transportation

Keywords: active transportation

Obesity is a major health problem in the United States and around the world. To date, relationships between obesity and aspects of the built environment have not been evaluated empirically at the individual level. Objective

To evaluate the relationship between the built environment around each participant's place of residence and self-reported travel patterns (walking and time in a car), body mass index (BMI), and obesity for specific gender and ethnicity classifications.

Body Mass Index, minutes spent in a car, kilometers walked, age, income, educational attainment, and gender were derived through a travel survey of 10,878 participants in the Atlanta, Georgia region. Objective measures of land use mix, net residential density, and street connectivity were developed within a 1-kilometer network distance of each participant's place of residence. A cross-sectional design was used to associate urban form measures with obesity, BMI, and transportation-related activity when adjusting for sociodemographic covariates. Discrete analyses were conducted across gender and ethnicity. The data were collected between 2000 and 2002 and analysis was conducted in 2004.

Land-use mix had the strongest association with obesity (BMI>=30 kg/m^2), with each quartile increase being associated with a 12.2% reduction in the likelihood of obesity across gender and ethnicity. Each additional hour spent in a car per day was associated with a 6% increase in the likelihood of obesity. Conversely, each additional kilometer walked per day was associated with a 4.8% reduction in the likelihood of obesity. As a continuous measure, BMI was significantly associated with urban form for white cohorts. Relationships among urban form, walk distance, and time in a car were stronger among white than black cohorts.

Measures of the built environment and travel patterns are important predictors of obesity across gender and ethnicity, yet relationships among the built environment, travel patterns, and weight may vary across gender and ethnicity. Strategies to increase land-use mix and distance walked while reducing time in a car can be effective as health interventions.

A very useful addition to the debates on urban form. I'm a fan of anything bring active transportation into the debate, rather than just trying to reduce SOV trips. I'm curious about why they found land-use mix and walking distance to be statistically independent influences on obesity. Their speculation that it may be related to nutrition (and so-called “food deserts”) is an interesting idea.

Keywords: urban planning, transport planning, active transportation, urban form, land use transport link

Physically inactive lifestyles are a major public health challenge, and research in the transportation field on influences on the choice to walk and bike may provide guidance toward solutions. In the interests of promoting effective collaboration among the transportation, planning, and health fields, the current paper was written to fulfill three purposes. The first purpose was to summarize the transportation and planning studies on the relation between community design and non-motorized (“active”) transport and to interpret these studies from a health perspective. The second purpose was to summarize studies from the health literature that examine the relation between physical environmental variables and leisure-time physical activity that have relevance for transportation research. The third purpose was to promote more collaboration among transportation, planning, and health investigators by identifying opportunities for trans-disciplinary research.

Keywords: active transportation, transport planning

Keywords: active transportation, urban planning, transport planning, urban form, land use transport link

Keywords: active transportation, urban planning, pedestrian planning, bicycle planning, urban form, transport planning

Keywords: active transportation, urban planning, pedestrian planning, bicycle planning, urban form, transport planning, land use transport link

Research in transportation, urban design, and planning has examined associations between physical environment variables and individuals' walking and cycling for transport. Constructs, methods, and findings from these fields can be applied by physical activity and health researchers to improve understanding of environmental influences on physical activity. In this review, neighborhood environment characteristics proposed to be relevant to walking/cycling for transport are defined, including population density, connectivity, and land use mix. Neighborhood comparison and correlational studies with nonmotorized transport outcomes are considered, with evidence suggesting that residents from communities with higher density, greater connectivity, and more land use mix report higher rates of walking/cycling for utilitarian purposes than low-density, poorly connected, and single land use neighborhoods. Environmental variables appear to add to variance accounted for beyond sociodemographic predictors of walking/cycling for transport. Implications of the transportation literature for physical activity and related research are outlined. Future research directions are detailed for physical activity research to further examine the impact of neighborhood and other physical environment factors on physical activity and the potential interactive effects of psychosocial and environmental variables. The transportation, urban design, and planning literatures provide a valuable starting point for multidisciplinary research on environmental contributions to physical activity levels in the population.

Keywords: active transportation, urban planning, urban form

Keywords: urban planning, transport planning, land use transport link

An increasing body of evidence suggests that moderate forms of physical activity (such as walking and bicycling), when engaged in regularly, can have important beneficial effects on public health. This article reviews current public health, planning, and urban design research to determine, first, how walking and bicycling might be critically important exercise behaviors for improving public health, second, how urban form affects the frequency of walking and bicycling as a form of physical activity, and third, how the public health considerations outlined in this article might reorient planners' thinking toward the realization of health-promotive environments. The current lack of emphasis on the interdependencies between built form and overall quality of life, as measured by health, safety, and welfare considerations, suggests the need for a rethinking of public policy approaches to transportation investment and land development.

Keywords: active transportation, urban planning, transport planning, urban form, land use transport link

Keywords: energy, transport planning, urban planning

Keywords: urban planning, transport planning, active transportation, land use transport link, urban form

Increases in per capita vehicle usage and associated emissions have spawned an increased the examination of the ways in which our communities and regions are developing. Associated with increased vehicle usage are decreased levels of walking and biking, two valid forms of physical activity. The Surgeon General's 1996 report, Physical Activity and Health, highlights the increasing level of physical inactivity as a growing cause of mortality. The costs and benefits of contrasting land development and transportation investment practices have been the subject of considerable debate in the literature. Findings have been refuted based on methodological grounds and inaccurate interpretation of data. Several of these studies, their methodological approaches, and their critiques are analyzed. While most agree that the built environment influences travel, considerable disagreement exists over the likely impacts of increased density, mix, and street connectivity on air quality, transportation system performance, and household activity patterns.

Keywords: urban planning, transport planning, active transportation, land use transport link

A leading cause of air pollution in many urban regions is mobile source emissions that are largely attributable to household vehicle travel. While household travel patterns have been previously related with land use in the literature (Crane, R., 1996. Journal of the American Planning Association 62 (1, Winter); Cervero, R. and Kockelman, C., 1997. Transportation Research Part D 2 (3), 199-219), little work has been conducted that effectively extends this relationship to vehicle emissions. This paper describes a methodology for quantifying relationships between land use, travel choices, and vehicle emissions within the Seattle, Washington region. Our analysis incorporates land use measures of density and mix which affect the proximity of trip origins to destinations; a measure of connectivity which impacts the directness and completeness of pedestrian and motorized linkages; vehicle trip generation by operating mode; vehicle miles/h of travel and speed; and estimated household vehicle emissions of nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds, and carbon monoxide. The data used for this project consists of the Puget Sound Transportation Panel Travel Survey, the 1990 US Census, employment density data from the Washington State Employment Security Office, and information on Seattle's vehicle fleet mix and climatological attributes provided by the Washington State Department of Ecology. Analyses are based on a cross-sectional research design in which comparisons are made of variations in household travel demand and emissions across alternative urban form typologies. Base emission rates from MOBILE5a and separate engine start rates are used to calculate total vehicle emissions in grams accounting for fleet characteristics and other inputs reflecting adopted transportation control measures. Emissions per trip are based on the network distance of each trip, average travel speed, and a multi-stage engine operating mode (cold start, hot start, and stabilized) function.

Keywords: urban planning, transport planning, urban form, land use transport link

Keywords: urban planning, transport planning, active transportation, urban form, land use transport link, urban planning

This study presents evidence that households, located in areas of the Atlanta Region with moderately high levels of street connectivity and compactness, drive and pollute less on a daily basis. This analysis employs a rigorous methodology to assess the emissions per household on a per trip basis accounting for cold start cycles, speed, hot stabilized operation, distance, and regional fleet characteristics. Emissions per household are cross-sectionally correlated with the land use patterns at the place of residence. These findings support the argument that a “nexus” exists between land use policies implemented through local government development regulations and household travel behavior (ie mode choice, travel distance, travel time, and vehicle emissions). This research provides an initial and very critical step that is required to lend credibility to the argument that major metropolitan regions should consider alternatives to current land and travel intensive development patterns to meet future air quality objectives.

Keywords: transport planning, urban form, urban planning, land use transport link

Keywords: active transportation

Keywords: urban planning, transport planning

Land-use impacts on travel demand and vehicle emissions is emerging as a topic of major interest, as several regions around the nation struggle to demonstrate conformance with the requirements of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 (CAAA). The implementation of the CAAA threatens the withholding of federal transportation funding from several regions unable to demonstrate the ability to meet milestone reductions in emissions required by the CAAA. A case study of a network of policies emerging in Washington State as part of growth management efforts is presented. These policies, when coupled with federal clean air (CAAA) and surface transportation legislation (ISTEA), provide a framework for the implementation of land-use strategies that are associated with less vehicular travel and emissions. A review of the land development and transportation investment policies espoused in newly adopted local comprehensive plans in the Central Puget Sound Region of Washington State are presented. This review indicates a shift toward planning solutions that could result in reduced vehicle emissions if implemented.

Keywords: transport planning, transportation demand management, urban form, greenhouse gases

Findings from an empirical analysis to test the impacts of land-use mix, population density, and employment density on the use of the single-occupant vehicle (SOV), transit and walking for both work trips and shopping trips are presented. The hypothetical relationships tested focused on whether there is a relationship between urban form and modal choice, whether this relationship exists when controlling for non-urban form factors, whether this relationship is linear or nonlinear, and whether a stronger relationship exists between modal choice and urban form when they are measured at both trip ends as opposed to either the origin or the destination. A review of the literature and experiences suggested that a fair amount of information is known about the impacts of density on mode choice. However, considerable debate exists over whether density itself is actually the causal stimulus or a surrogate for other factors. To address this issue a data base was developed with a comprehensive set of variables for which density may be a proxy, for example, demographics and level of service. This analysis employed a correlational research design in which mode choice was compared among census tracts with differing levels of density and mix. Findings from this research indicate that density and mix are both related to mode choice, even when controlling for non-urban form factors for both work trips and shopping trips. Furthermore, the relationship between population and employment density and mode choice for SOV, transit and walking is nonlinear for both work and shopping trips. Transit usage and walking increase as density and land-use mix increase, whereas SOV usage declines. The findings from this research suggest that measuring urban form at both trip ends provides a greater ability to predict travel choices than looking at trip ends separately. The findings also suggest that increasing the level of land-use mix at the trip origins and destinations is also related to a reduction in SOV travel and an increase in transit and walking.

Solid research, with more convincing methodology than Sch96 (which I read at about the same time).

Overall, the most interesting result of the paper is the demonstration of nonlinearity. Figures 2 and 3 of their paper show a graph of modal share vs. employment density, and vs. population density. These graphs show that major increases in bus/walk modes only happen at employment densities greater than 125 employees/acre (work trips), or 13 residents/acre (shopping trips). The implications for policy are obvious: if you aren't going to reach those thresholds, you're wasting your time. Also, the employment graph shows substantial nonlinearity: between 75 and 125 employees/acre, there is essentially no change in mode share.

They also had some predictable results: walking trips were the most sensitive to increases in population density; it's worth considering densities at both trip ends (i.e., both residential population density and employment population density); etc.

Keywords: urban planning, transport planning, urban form, transit, active transportation, land use transport link

Keywords: land use transport link, urban form