Impacts of urban form on travel behavior

[Jerry Weitz]

Great to see this new board added on growth management and sprawl!

Randall Crane published a great article recently in the Journal of Planning Literature (August 2000) on the impacts of the newer land use tools (new urbanism, transit oriented development, etc.)on travel (vehicle miles, walking, trip lengths, number of trips, and so forth). While I wouldn't characterize Crane as a skeptic (he is more a cautious realist, I would say), his thorough literature review and assessment of what the literature means is a very important, somewhat sobering, piece of work. Anyone interested in travel behavior and the impacts that land use has on it should read this piece. I think it is very well done, though optimists of neotraditional development may not necessarily think so.

Jerry Weitz.

 

[Tranplanner]

"Travel By Design: The Influence of Urban Form on Travel" is actually a full-length book written by Randall Crane and Marlon Boarnet, published earlier this year by Oxford University Press. I've seen it listed at Amazon.com, but thought I'd wait for some reviews before paying my $60 (U.S.) for it.

Anyone give this thing a read yet?

 

[calplanner]

Research has exposed the claims of neotraditional planning gurus as hype when it comes to changes in travel behavior. The Journal of the American Planning Association has published some of the best research on this topic.

Residents of a neotraditional development in Sacramento routinely drive--even to the development's town center. Travel behavior within the broader community is the same as a typical sprawl development.

Bryan Apper, AICP
Senior Environmental Planner
Caltrans