Is ‘Compact City’ a sensible planning approach? Empirical evidence of cross perceptions of travel attitudes in British settlements

Abstract

This paper will present empirically based evidence from the UK in respect of the impact of neighbourhood design on travel behaviour using a case-study approach. The case-study is based on the metropolitan area of Tyne and Wear, North East of England. Ten different neighbourhoods have been carefully selected to characterise two different types of traditional and suburban neighbourhood street layouts. A self-administered questionnaire has been delivered to 2,200 households to capture neighbourhood design, travel patterns, travel attitudes and socio-economic characteristics. Multivariate analysis of cross-sectional data shows that some socio-economic variables as well as travel attitudes and neighbourhood design preferences can explain the differences in travel patterns. Furthermore, the application of a regression analysis model for different neighbourhood types reveals that the traditional neighbourhood group has more sensitive factors that influence the differences in travel pattern than the suburban neighbourhood group, suggesting that land-use policy designed to accommodate low carbon-based travel neighbourhood characteristics will have greater impact on the traditional group than the suburban group. This finding suggests that the generic measures implied by UK land-use policy to promote sustainable mobility should be selectively targeted.