Proponents of New Urbanism have claimed that neo-traditional urban designs promote walking, reduce automobile dependence, and improve the quality of life for residents. However, existing research in land use and travel behavior has not been able to adequately support or invalidate these claimsdue to data and methodological limitations. This research aims to furtherprobe the complex relationship between the built environment and travel behavior and test the claims made by New Urbanists by analyzing travel dataobtained from travel surveys and diaries for sixteen mixed-use centers (i.e., New Urbanist/neo-traditional) and auto-oriented corridors (i.e., postwar suburb) in the South Bay region of Los Angeles County. All individualtrips, driving trips, and walking trips are regressed on selected sociodemographic and attitudinal variables to see if there are significant differences in walking and driving trips between mixed-use centers and auto-oriented corridors. The results both confirm and challenge New Urbanist claims; while there are no discernable differences in individual driving trips between mixed-use centers and auto-oriented corridors, there are a higher number of individual walking trips reported in mixed-use centers. The findings of the study suggest that aspects of the built environment influencetravel behavior, in particular walking behavior, although further research needs to be conducted in this area in order to make informed policy decisions pertaining to transportation and land use.
Samenvatting