Compact development and VMT-Environmental determinism, self-selection, or some of both?
Reid Ewing, Shima Hamidi, James B Grace, 2016, in Enviroment and planning B: Planning and Design
doi:10.1177/0265813515594811
Location |
Utah |
Population |
General |
Sample size |
2735 |
Factor analysis type |
principal components, none rotation |
Stepwise regression |
no |
Removal of insignificant variables |
no |
Reviewed by |
NAH |
Abstract
There is a long-running debate in the planning literature about the effects of the built environment on travel behavior and the degree to which apparent effects are due to the tendency of households to self-select into neighborhoods that reinforce their travel preferences. Those who want to walk will choose walkable neighborhoods, and those who want to use transit will choose transit-served neighborhoods. These households might have walked or used transit more than their neighbors wherever they lived. Most previous studies have shown that individual attitudes attenuate the relationship between the residential environment and travel choices, and so the effect of the built environment on travel may be overestimated. But there are other researchers who argue the reverse, claiming that residential preferences reinforce built environmental influences. This study assesses the relative importance of the built environment and residential preferences/travel attitudes for a sample of 962 households in the Greater Salt Lake region using structural equation modeling. For the sake of simplicity, we extracted two factors using principal component analysis, one representing the built environment and the other representing residential preferences/attitudes. Our findings are consistent with the view that the neighborhood built environment and residential preferences both influence household’s travel, that the built environment is the stronger influence, and that the built environment affects travel through two causal pathways, one direct and the other indirect, through attitudes. © 2015, © The Author(s) 2015.
Factors
Variable |
Pattern loading
|
If I were to move, I would like to find a neighborhood where there is plenty of distance between my neighbors and me, even if this means that I have to drive just about everywhere (Res preference/perception) |
-0.611 |
If I were to move, I would like to find a neighborhood where I can walk to stores, restaurants, and other important destinations, even if this means that commercial areas are within a few blocks (1/3 mile) of my house (Res preference/perception) |
0.837 |
If I were to move, I would like to find a neighborhood where I can walk, bicycle, or take public transit for some of my trips, even if this means that homes are smaller (Res preference/perception) |
0.812 |
If I were to move, I would like to find a neighborhood where it is a lively and active place, even if this means it has a mixture of single-family houses, townhouses, and small apartment buildings that are close together on various sized lots (Res preference/perception) |
0.811 |
Models
Source variable |
Target variable |
Effect |
p-value |
Effect type |
Household Size |
Built environment factor |
-0.329 |
0.0 |
direct_effect |
Income |
Built environment factor |
-0.133 |
0.002 |
direct_effect |
Homeowner |
Built environment factor |
-0.508 |
0.0 |
direct_effect |
Household Size |
Vehicles |
0.228 |
0.0 |
direct_effect |
Income |
Vehicles |
0.299 |
0.0 |
direct_effect |
Residential preference/attitude factor |
Vehicles |
-0.13 |
0.0 |
direct_effect |
Workers |
Vehicles |
0.325 |
0.0 |
direct_effect |
Built environment factor |
Vehicles |
-0.078 |
0.007 |
direct_effect |
Homeowner |
Vehicles |
0.146 |
0.027 |
direct_effect |
Vehicles |
Vmt |
0.2 |
0.0 |
direct_effect |
Household Size |
Vmt |
0.322 |
0.0 |
direct_effect |
Built environment factor |
Vmt |
-0.116 |
0.001 |
direct_effect |
Workers |
Vmt |
0.208 |
0.0 |
direct_effect |
Residential preference/attitude factor |
Vmt |
-0.066 |
0.039 |
direct_effect |
Homeowner |
Vmt |
0.248 |
0.001 |
direct_effect |
Residential preference/attitude factor |
Built environment factor |
0.365 |
0.0 |
direct_effect |
Source variable |
Target variable |
Effect |
p-value |
Effect type |
Workers |
Residential preference/attitude factor |
0.07 |
0.999 |
direct_effect |
Household Size |
Vehicles |
0.228 |
0.0 |
direct_effect |
Income |
Vehicles |
0.299 |
0.0 |
direct_effect |
Built environment factor |
Vehicles |
-0.078 |
0.007 |
direct_effect |
Workers |
Vehicles |
0.325 |
0.0 |
direct_effect |
Residential preference/attitude factor |
Vehicles |
-0.13 |
0.0 |
direct_effect |
Homeowner |
Vehicles |
0.146 |
0.027 |
direct_effect |
Vehicles |
Vmt |
0.2 |
0.0 |
direct_effect |
Household Size |
Vmt |
0.322 |
0.0 |
direct_effect |
Residential preference/attitude factor |
Vmt |
-0.066 |
0.039 |
direct_effect |
Workers |
Vmt |
0.208 |
0.0 |
direct_effect |
Built environment factor |
Vmt |
-0.116 |
0.001 |
direct_effect |
Homeowner |
Vmt |
0.248 |
0.001 |
direct_effect |
Built environment factor |
Residential preference/attitude factor |
0.443 |
0.0 |
direct_effect |