Activity participation and activity patterns are determined both by a person's needs and preferences and the opportunities and constraints imposed by the (urban) environment. These opportunities and constraints in turn depend on the attributes of the activity locations, their spatial distribution, and the transport network linking the activity locations. In the context of the policy discussion to reduce traffic, it is either implicitly or explicitly assumed that urban form is systematically related to activity patterns and related trip generation. Unfortunately, there is still a lack of empirical evidence regarding the strength and nature of this assumed relationship. To examine this relationship a diary survey has been administered in 19 neighbourhoods, distributed over 9 Dutch cities, to collect data on daily activity patterns. The cities and neighbourhoods were selected such as to represent a number of different urban forms and transportation networks. In this paper, the authors attempt to assess the relationship between several attributes of the physical urban structure and aspects of trip patterns. The attention is focused on frequent activities like working, shopping, and recreation. (A)
Abstract