808
Views
33
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Articles

Managing urban growth to reduce motorised travel in Beijing: one method of creating a low-carbon city

&
Pages 959-977 | Received 07 Jan 2010, Accepted 26 Sep 2010, Published online: 27 Jun 2011
 

Abstract

The environmental impact of rising motorised travel has become a key issue regarding low-carbon development in China. Drastic urban expansion under the current rapid urbanisation process tends to worsen these impacts. This paper examines the impacts of the patterns of urban development on motorised travel in the case of Beijing. By using household survey data, the analysis finds that the patterns of urban development on the urban fringe have a significant impact on workers' car use for their journeys to work when their socio-economic characteristics, household preferences for housing location and level of public transport accessibility are taken into account. Sprawling industrial and real estate development, characterised by a low degree of self-contained development and low-density land use, tends to increase the need to drive. The findings suggest that growth management to control sprawling development would play an important role in containing the motorised travel demand in China where transport policies are usually focused on huge and expensive transport projects. Urban growth management can have significant implications for achieving the objectives of creating a low-carbon city in China in the current process of rapid urbanisation.

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 USA.

Log in via your institution

Log in to Taylor & Francis Online

PDF download + Online access

  • 48 hours access to article PDF & online version
  • Article PDF can be downloaded
  • Article PDF can be printed
USD 53.00 Add to cart

Issue Purchase

  • 30 days online access to complete issue
  • Article PDFs can be downloaded
  • Article PDFs can be printed
USD 675.00 Add to cart

* Local tax will be added as applicable

Related Research

People also read lists articles that other readers of this article have read.

Recommended articles lists articles that we recommend and is powered by our AI driven recommendation engine.

Cited by lists all citing articles based on Crossref citations.
Articles with the Crossref icon will open in a new tab.