Urban form and travel behavior:Experience from a Nordic context

JTLU vol 5, no 2, pp 21-45 (2012)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

Residential location influences travel - but how and why?

Investigations in a number of cities and metropolitan areas have shown that those living in the outer, low-density parts travel considerably longer by motorized means of transportation, compared to the residents of inner and central parts of the town. The same main pattern has been found in cities as different as Paris (Mogridge, 1985; Fouchier 1998), London (Mogridge, ibid.), New York and Melbourne (Newman and Kenworthy, 1989), San Fransisco (Schipper et al., 1994), Greater Oslo (Næss, Røe and Larsen, 1995; Røe 1999), Bergen (Duun, 1994), and Trondheim (Synnes, 1990). However, many of the early empirical studies demonstrating correlations between urban structure and travel behavior have been criticized for not taking into consideration socioeconomic factors and/or disregarding the influence of the travelers' attitudes and lifestyles. Because, among other things, the income levels, household structures, age and leisure interests of the inhabitants often vary between inner and outer parts of the city, there is a risk that differences in the transportation pattern actually caused by such factors are being explained with differences in the location. In some studies, attempts have been made to meet these points of criticism by including socioeconomic variables in the analyses (e.g. Næss, Røe and Larsen, ibid.), and in a few studies also indicators of the travelers' attitudes and lifestyles (e.g. Røe, ibid.). Still, some critics call attention to the fact that statistical correlations, even with multivariate control, can never establish whether a causal relationship exists between urban structure and travel behavior.In order to meet the above criticisms, a comprehensive study of urban structure and transport has recently been conducted in the Copenhagen area, aiming to identify the overall relationships as well as the more detailed mechanisms through which the location of residences within the metropolitan area influences travel behavior. In the remaining part of this paper, the theoretical basis, research questions and methods the Copenhagen area study will first be discussed. A number of mechanisms through which residential location affects travel behavior will then be identified, drawing mainly on qualitative interviews. Thereupon, the question of which mechanisms and influences are the dominating ones will be addressed, based on statistical analyses of data from two comprehensive travel surveys

Modal split and travel times in the western NSB corridor in Oslo

How do investments in roads and public transport respectively, influence modal split and traveling times? The Norwegian Institute for Urban and Regional Research are in collaboration with Martin Mogridge Associates (London) undertaking a project aiming at answering this question. The discussion will be based on literature reviews and our own empirical research. Both cross sectional analyses and time sere analyses will be conducted in the empirical research. This paper presents empirical results from the first investigation in one of the two case corridors