Does the Built Environment Make a Difference? An Investigation of Household Vehicle Use in Zhongshan Metropolitan Area, China

Yi Zhang, Wei Wu, Yuan Li, Qixing Liu and Chaoyang Li
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Yi Zhang: School of Naval Architecture Ocean and Civil Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai 200240, China
Wei Wu: School of Traffic and Transportation Engineering, Changsha University of Science and Technology, 960 Wanjiali Road, Changsha 410004, China
Yuan Li: School of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Xiamen University, 422 South Siming Road, Xiamen 361005, China
Qixing Liu: Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University, Burgemeester Oudlaan 50, Rotterdam 3062 PA, The Netherlands
Chaoyang Li: School of Naval Architecture Ocean and Civil Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai 200240, China

Sustainability, 2014, vol. 6, issue 8, 1-21

Abstract: To address worsening urban traffic and environmental issues, planners and policy makers in China have begun to recognize the importance of shaping vehicle use through the built environment. However, very few studies can be found that examine the relationship between the built environment and vehicle use in the Chinese context. With data collected in Zhongshan Metropolitan Area, this study examined how two built environment representations—simple measures and neighborhood types—were related to household car trips and motorcycle trips in China. The results of the negative binomial regression models showed that the household socio-demographic measures displayed significant association, and the built environment representations enhanced the explanatory powers. All else being equal, households in Zhongshan would generate less car and motorcycle trips if located in neighborhoods with denser land use development, better transit service and less connective street networks. In order to shape vehicle use, the findings provided informative insights for planners and policy makers to form a relatively high density of land use developments, slow down the construction of street networks, provide more jobs adjacent to residential areas and facilitate easy access to public transportation services.

Keywords: household vehicle use; car and motorcycle trips; built environment; neighborhood type; negative binomial regression (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (16)

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