It is assumed, in new urban designs and compact cities, that average travel distances tend to be shorter and that more destinations are linked in chains. However, it can be expected that travel time savings are used for lower priority activities that would be impossible otherwise. Thus, higher activity frequencies are expected. In light of this, tours, i.e. chains of trips starting and ending at home, are a better concept for analysis than single trips. To date, few studies have investigated the effect of the built environment on tours. We analyzed activity and tour frequencies, the number of chains, differences in tours between activity types, the average travel time per tour and the total time travelled. The conclusions support the claims of the land use concepts, though the way it works is not as claimed: higher densities increase the number of activity locations visited, and consequently the number of tours, but there is little evidence that tours - and consequently travel times - are longer. Analyses of various spatial scales indicate that activity and travel behavior, at least for maintenance and discretionary activities, do not take place on a very low scale. The best land use indicator appeared to be a combined measure of density and mixed use that takes account of shops and employment within a 3-kilometer radius.
Abstract