Will urbanization reduce residential traffic energy consumption? Evidence from China urban household survey

ABSTRACT

This article empirically tests the effects of urban scale and density on residential traffic expense by utilizing micro-level data from ‘China Urban Household Survey’. Results show high level of urban scale and density both will increase household’s total traffic expense at the city level. Urban density influences residential traffic energy consumption only by changing the structure of household’s traffic mode. Currently, eastern areas should pay attention to the phenomenon of the geographical separation of residential and working sites so as to alleviate the problem of increasing commuting distance. Mid and western areas should instead focus on providing more public transport facilities and networks.

KEYWORDS:

• Urbanization
• urban scale
• urban density
• traffic expense
• urban household survey

JEL CLASSIFICATION:

• R11
• R41

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [Grant number 71503184];the National Natural Science Foundation of China [Grant number 71873096].