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Varying influences of the built environment on household travel in 15 diverse regions of the United States

Author

Listed:
  • Reid Ewing
  • Guang Tian
  • JP Goates
  • Ming Zhang

    (University of Texas at Austin, USA)

  • Michael J Greenwald

    (Oregon Health Authority, USA)

  • Alex Joyce

    (Fregonese Associates Inc., USA)

  • John Kircher

    (University of Utah, USA)

  • William Greene

    (New York University, USA)

Abstract

This study pools household travel and built environment data from 15 diverse US regions to produce travel models with more external validity than any to date. It uses a large number of consistently defined built environmental variables to predict five household travel outcomes – car trips, walk trips, bike trips, transit trips and vehicle miles travelled (VMT). It employs multilevel modelling to account for the dependence of households in the same region on shared regional characteristics and estimates ‘hurdle’ models to account for the excess number of zero values in the distributions of dependent variables such as household transit trips. It tests built environment variables for three different buffer widths around household locations to see which scale best explains travel behaviour. The resulting models are appropriate for post-processing outputs of conventional travel demand models, and for sketch planning applications in traffic impact analysis, climate action planning and health impact assessment.

Suggested Citation

  • Reid Ewing & Guang Tian & JP Goates & Ming Zhang & Michael J Greenwald & Alex Joyce & John Kircher & William Greene, 2015. "Varying influences of the built environment on household travel in 15 diverse regions of the United States," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 52(13), pages 2330-2348, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:52:y:2015:i:13:p:2330-2348
    DOI: 10.1177/0042098014560991
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Reid Ewing & Robert Cervero, 2010. "Travel and the Built Environment," Journal of the American Planning Association, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 76(3), pages 265-294.
    2. Cao, Xinyu (Jason) & Mokhtarian, Patricia L. & Handy, Susan L., 2009. "The relationship between the built environment and nonwork travel: A case study of Northern California," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 43(5), pages 548-559, June.
    3. Bhat, Chandra R. & Sen, Sudeshna & Eluru, Naveen, 2009. "The impact of demographics, built environment attributes, vehicle characteristics, and gasoline prices on household vehicle holdings and use," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 1-18, January.
    4. Boarnet, Marlon & Crane, Randall, 2001. "The influence of land use on travel behavior: specification and estimation strategies," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 35(9), pages 823-845, November.
    5. Salon, Deborah, 2006. "Cars and the City: An Investigation of Transportation and Residential Location Choices in New York City," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt1br223vz, University of California Transportation Center.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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