Can Land-use Policy Really Affect Travel Behaviour? A Study of the Link between Non-work Travel and Land-use Characteristics

Planners are increasingly viewing land-use policy as a way to manage transport demand. Yet the evidence on the link between land use and travel behaviour is inconclusive. This paper uses travel diary data for southern California residents to examine the link between land-use patterns at the neighbourhood level and non-work trip generation for a sample of 769 individuals. The number of non-work automobile trips that an individual makes in a two-day period is modelled as a function of socio-demographic variables and land-use characteristics near the person's place of residence. The land-use variables are statistically insignificant in all but one of the specifications. The results suggest that choices about how to measure the variables and how to specify the regressions can influence the conclusions from these studies in potentially important ways. This underscores the need for continued careful attention to these research issues.