DOES NEIGHBORHOOD DESIGN INFLUENCE TRAVEL - A BEHAVIORAL-ANALYSIS OF TRAVEL DIARY AND GIS DATA

Can urban design improve the environment? If communities could be desi gned to reduce automobile use, then yes. But can urban design influenc e travel? Surprisingly perhaps, the effects of any specific neighborho od feature on travel behavior at the margin are ail but unknown. The p olicy significance of this issue is reflected in the swelling populari ty of the 'new urbanism' and other planning strategies employing land use tools to mitigate the environmental impacts of metropolitan develo pment. In addition to asserting that development patterns and densitie s affect how far, how often, and by what means people travel, urban de signers frequently argue that the legibility and shape of the local st reet pattern play a key role. 'Connected' residential blocks are thus associated with less driving by comparison with the circuitous routes of the modern suburban cul-de-sac-chiefly by reducing trip lengths and facilitating pedestrian and transit access. Remarkably, there is litt le empirical and theoretical support for these claims. This paper prov ides the first direct tests of these hypotheses within a consistent be havioral framework. An analysis of household travel diary and GIS data for San Diego finds little role for land use in explaining travel beh avior, and no evidence that the street network pattern affects either short or long non-work travel decisions. While results may vary in oth er areas, the empirical argument for using land use as an element of r egional air quality or other environmental plans remains to be demonst rated. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.