Overview of Land Use Transport Models

The previous chapters in this Handbook have shown that spatial development, or land use, determines the need for spatial interaction, or transport, but that transport, by the accessibility it provides, also determines spatial development. However, it is difficult to empirically isolate impacts of land use on transport and vice versa because of the multitude of concurrent changes of other factors. This poses a problem if the likely impacts of integrated land-use and transport policies to reduce the demand for travel are to be predicted. There are principally three methods to predict those impacts. The first is to ask people how they would change their location and mobility behaviour if certain factors, such as land use regulations or transport costs, would change ('stated preference'). The second consists of drawing conclusions from observed decision behaviour of people under different conditions on how they would be likely to behave if these factors would change ('revealed preference'). The third method is to simulate human decision behaviour in mathematical models. All three methods have their advantages and disadvantages. Surveys can reveal also subjective factors of location and mobility decisions, however, their respondents can only make conjec-tures about how they would behave in still unknown situations, and the validity of such con

URBAN FIELDS IN THE MAKING: NEW EVIDENCE FROM A DANISH CONTEXT

This paper analyses the development of the scale of spatial interaction in Denmark and its consequences for commute patterns around the country's two largest cities. The methods used are GIS-based mapping of commuter flows and analysis of the changing correlation between centrality and commuting from 1982 to 2002. The distances bridged by commuting and the size of functional regions have expanded markedly. The consequences for commute patterns depend on the regional context. In the case of the capital area, the expanding scale of interaction is equivalent to an expanded commuter field around the capital. The significance of the centre of the capital for commuting has increased from 1982 to 2002. In the case of East Jutland, where many mid-sized historical centres are located close to each other, the development is in the direction of a polycentric urban region with decreased significance of any single centre in attracting and focusing the commute pattern. Copyright (c) 2005 by the Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG.