During the past decade several empirical studies have been carried out into the impact that land use has on mobility. Studies that focus on the impact of neighbourhood characteristics, most of which originate from the USA, have been found to be relatively scarce and not always relevant to the European situation in view of the fact that the spatial and infrastructural context in a number of European countries differs greatly from that of the USA. An empirical study was therefore set up in order to ascertain the impact that neighbourhood characteristics have upon mobility. For the purposes of this study people's personal and household situations were first considered, only Dutch towns were examined and the focus was upon three neighbourhoods. The results revealed that neighbourhood characteristics such as good access to shops, cycling facilities, public transport and carfriendly infrastructures, as well as the proximity to main road networks, were all factors that significantly influence mobility. (Author/Publisher)
Abstract