Research Catalog

Driving and the built environment : the effects of compact development on motorized travel, energy use, and CO2 emissions / Committee for the Study on the Relationships Among Development Patterns, Vehicle Miles Traveled, and Energy Consumption, Transportation Research Board, Board on Energy and Environmental Systems, National Research Council.

Title
Driving and the built environment : the effects of compact development on motorized travel, energy use, and CO2 emissions / Committee for the Study on the Relationships Among Development Patterns, Vehicle Miles Traveled, and Energy Consumption, Transportation Research Board, Board on Energy and Environmental Systems, National Research Council.
Author
National Research Council (U.S.). Committee for the Study on the Relationships Among Development Patterns, Vehicle Miles Traveled, and Energy Consumption.
Publication
Washington, D.C. : Transportation Research Board, 2009.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Filter by

1 Item

StatusFormatAccessCall NumberItem Location
TextRequest in advance HE308 .N365 2009Off-site

Holdings

Details

Additional Authors
  • National Research Council (U.S.). Transportation Research Board
  • National Research Council (U.S.). Board on Energy and Environmental Systems.
Description
xiii, 239 p. : ill.; 23 cm.
Summary
The vast majority of the U.S. population - some 80 percent - now lives in metropolitan areas, but population and employment continue to decentralize within regions, and density levels continue to decline at the urban fringe. Suburbanization is a long-standing trend that reflects the preference of many Americans for living in detached single-family homes, made possible largely through the mobility provided by the automobile and an extensive highway network. Yet these dispersed, automobile-dependent development patterns have come at a cost, consuming vast quantities of undeveloped land; increasing the nations dependence on petroleum, particularly foreign imports; and increasing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that contribute to global warming. The primary purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between land development patterns, often referred to as the built environment, and motor vehicle travel in the United States and to assess whether petroleum use, and by extension GHG emissions, could be reduced through changes in the design of development patterns. A key question of interest is the extent to which developing more compactly would reduce vehicle miles traveled (VMT) and make alternative modes of travel (e.g., transit, walking) more feasible. The study is focused on metropolitan areas and on personal travel, the primary vectors through which policy changes designed to encourage more compact development should have the greatest effect.
Series Statement
Transportation Research Board special report ; 298
Uniform Title
Special report (National Research Council (U.S.). Transportation Research Board) 298.
Subject
  • Urban transportation > Environmental aspects > United States
  • City planning > Environmental aspects > United States
  • Motor vehicle driving > Environmental aspects > United States
Bibliography (note)
  • Includes bibliograhical references.
Processing Action (note)
  • committed to retain
Contents
Introduction -- Trends in development patterns -- Impacts of land use patterns on vehicle miles traveled : Evidence from the literature -- Future residential development patterns -- Potential effects of more compact development patterns on vehicle miles traveled, energy use, and CO₂ emissions -- Recommendations -- Appendices. A. Study on relationships among development patterns, vehicle miles traveled, and energy consumption -- B. Commissioned papers and authors -- C. Analysis of density assumptions and feasibility of committee scenarios
ISBN
  • 9780309142557 (pbk.)
  • 0309142555 (pbk.)
LCCN
^^2009041235
OCLC
  • 460933167
  • SCSB-12230022
Owning Institutions
Harvard Library