Accessibility, Travel Behavior, and New Urbanism

The proponents of new urbanism have claimed that neotraditional urban designs promote walking, reduce automobile dependence, and improve the quality of life for residents. However, the existing research on land use and travel behavior has not been able to support or invalidate these claims adequately because of data and methodological limitations. This research aims to probe further the complex relationship between the built environment and travel behavior and test the claims made by new urbanists by analyzing travel data obtained from travel surveys and diaries for 16 mixed-use centers (i.e., new urbanist and neotraditional) and auto-oriented corridors (i.e., postwar suburb) in the South Bay region of Los Angeles County, California. All individual trips, driving trips, and walking trips were regressed on selected sociodemographic and attitudinal variables to see if there were significant differences in walking and driving trips between mixed-use centers and auto-oriented corridors. The results both support and challenge the claims of new urbanists: although there are no discernible differences in individual driving trips between mixed-use centers and auto-oriented corridors, a higher number of individual walking trips are reported in mixed-use centers. The findings of the study suggest that aspects of the built environment, as well as attitudinal factors, influence travel behavior–in particular, walking behavior–although further research needs to be conducted in this area to make informed policy decisions pertaining to transportation and land use.