This paper presents causally based evidence from the UK in respect of theimpact of neighborhood design on travel behavior using a case-study approach. In this paper sustainable travel to work is defined as including walking, cycling, travel by bus and by light rail. The identification of travel to work data is derived from the British Census 2001 to represent two groups of carefully selected neighborhoods; one exhibiting a high incidence of sustainable travel to work patterns, the other a low incidence. A questionnaire has been delivered to these neighborhoods to capture four dimensions of neighborhood, attitudes/preferences, socio-economic, and car travel characteristics. The research aims to demonstrate micro-scale evidence from residential households in the north-east of England. A cross-sectional design investigates the relationship between neighborhood characteristics and travel behavior. Multivariate analysis confirms that some socio-economic variables, travel attitudes and perceived neighborhood characteristics can explain differences between neighborhood groups. The neighborhood group with a high percentage of travel to work by non-car mode has a higher potential to travel further compared to the neighborhood group with high percentage of travel to work by car and the neighborhood group with the highest percentage travel to work by car mode has the highest potential to use public transport. These results offer a policy dilemma as to which public preferences for improved travel accessibility should be met by local authorities.
Abstract