Journey to Work Travel Outcomes from ‘City of Short Distances’ Compact City Planning in Tübingen, Germany

Abstract

In the southern German city of Tübingen, a ‘city of short distances’ planning model has been applied to try to reduce the need to travel through the co-location of employment space with housing—a style of compact city planning reportedly influenced by Jane Jacobs’ principles for urban vitality. However, until now the impact of this mixed land use model on work travel patterns has not been systematically researched. This paper reports on empirical research that has explored the implications of the model for employing organizations and employees, through qualitative key actor interviews and quantitative data obtained by surveys of employees in short distance neighbourhoods and those in two control neighbourhoods. The findings show that short distance planning appears to reduce work travel distances and encourage sustainable travel patterns of work travel, although the role of residential self-selection in producing these patterns remains unclear in this preliminary study.

Keywords:

• Compact cities
• city of short distances
• commuting
• Tübingen

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Mr. Andreas Feldtkeller for his comments on this research, Ms. Miriam Plesker and Mr. Max Böhm of the Bergische Universität, Wuppertal for their assistance with data collection, and to the anonymous reviewers who helped to strengthen this paper.

Notes

1. Personal communication from Andreas Feldtkeller, May 2017.