Retrofitting the Suburbs to Increase Walking: Evidence from a Land-use-Travel Study

Marlon G. Boarnet, Kenneth Joh, Walter Siembab, William Fulton and Mai Thi Nguyen
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Marlon G. Boarnet: Departments of Planning, Policy, and Design and Economics and the Institute of Transportation Studies, University of California - Irvine, Irvine, California, 92697-7075, USA, mgboarne@uci.edu
Kenneth Joh: Department of Landscape Architecture & Urban Planning, Texas A&M University, 3137 TAMU, College Station, Texas, 78743-3137, USA, kjoh@tamu.edu
Walter Siembab: Siembab Planning Associates, 5944 Chariton Avenue, Los Angeles, California, 90056, USA, ws@siembab.com
William Fulton: School of Policy, Planning & Development, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, 90089, USA; bfulton@cp-dr.com
Mai Thi Nguyen: Department of City and Regional Planning, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, CB # 3140, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 27599, USA, mai@unc.edu

Urban Studies, 2011, vol. 48, issue 1, 129-159

Abstract: This paper reports results from a detailed travel diary survey of 2125 residents in the South Bay area of Los Angeles County—a mature, auto-oriented suburban region. Study areas were divided into four centres, typical of compact development or smart growth, and four linear, auto-oriented corridors. Results show substantial variation in the amount of walking across study areas. Trips are shorter and more likely to be via walking in centres. A key to the centres’ increased walking travel is the concentration of local shopping and service destinations in a commercial core. Yet the amount of business concentration that is associated with highly pedestrian-oriented neighbourhoods is from three to four times as large as what can be supported by the local resident base, suggesting that pedestrian-oriented neighbourhoods necessarily import shopping trips, and hence driving trips, from larger surrounding catchment areas. The results suggest both land use and mobility strategies that can be appropriate for suburban regions.

Date: 2011
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:48:y:2011:i:1:p:129-159

DOI: 10.1177/0042098010364859

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