MIXED LAND-USES AND COMMUTING - EVIDENCE FROM THE AMERICAN HOUSING SURVEY

Past research suggests that mixed land-uses encourage non-auto commuti ng; however, the evidence remains sketchy. This paper explores this qu estion by investigating how the presence of retail activities in neigh borhoods influences the commuting choices of residents using data from the 1985 American Housing Survey. Having grocery stores and other con sumer services within 300 feet of one's residence is found to encourag e commuting by mass transit, walking and bicycling, controlling for su ch factors as residential densities and vehicle ownership levels. When retail shops are beyond 300 feet yet within 1 mile of residences, how ever, they tend to encourage auto-commuting, ostensibly because of the ability to efficiently link work and shop trips by car. The presence of nearby commercial land-uses is also associated with relatively low vehicle ownership rates and short commuting distances among residents of a mixed-use neighborhood. Overall, residential densities exerted a stronger influence on commuting mode choices than levels of land-use m ixture, except for walking and bicycle commutes. For non-motorized com muting, the presence or absence of neighborhood shops is a better pred ictor of mode choice than residential densities. Copyright (C) 1996 El sevier Science Ltd