Car use, commuting and urban form in a rapidly growing city: evidence from Beijing

Abstract

The links between urban form and travel behaviour have been widely studied in the field of travel demand management. However, the existing literature is dominated by case studies from the developed countries. A study of a city in a developing and industrialising country can add some fresh evidence to the debate on the impacts of urban form on travel patterns. Using household survey data from Beijing, this paper finds that aspects of urban form have significant effects on workers' car use and the duration of travel by car in journeys to work, while controlling for socio-economic factors and households’ preferences related to residential location. The sprawling patterns of land development play a negative role in reducing motorised commuting trips and shortening vehicle hours travelled in the current processes of rapid urban expansion and motorisation. Since urban sprawl is greatly influenced by growing market forces, the findings in this paper reveal the negative effects of regulation–liberation of land development management on travel behaviour modification.

Keywords:

• urban form
• automobile dependence
• commuting
• travel demand management
• Beijing

Acknowledgements

The travel data used in this study came from a housing survey undertaken in 2006 by Professor Li Si-Ming from Hong Kong Baptist University and Professor John R. Logan from Brown University. The author would like to thank both for their data support.