J. Cooper et al., Contemporary lifestyles and the implications for sustainable development policy: Lessons from the UK's most car dependent city, Belfast, CITIES, 18(2), 2001, pp. 103-113
The rise in demand for car travel is fuelled more by the increased spatial
separation of homes and workplaces, shops and schools than by any rise in t
rip making, Belfast is one of the most car dependent cities in the United K
ingdom. A major household survey was intended to inform an understanding of
the likely behavioural response to sustainable development policy initiati
ves. The survey was one of a series of linked tools within a wider EPSRC Su
stainable Cities Project research project. Insights into consumer responses
to the various policy measures considered in the overall project were draw
n in part from the stated preference experiments included in the household
survey. Initiatives included improved domestic energy efficiency, increased
densification of housing, improved public transport and the introduction o
f traffic restraint measures such as road user charges. There were signs of
some willingness to accept moderately higher densities on the basis that r
esidents would be compensated by a lower than otherwise purchase price. The
typical effect of introducing road pricing say at pound1.00 per day equate
d to a reduction in property values of some 2.5% while the absence of any a
pparent statistical significance generated by the public transport variable
reflects its current lack of credibility as an alternative to the car. Whi
le Belfast may not be wholly typical, it does offer a warning of the extent
of the challenge faced by policy makers in more car dominated cities in th
e UK and beyond. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.