The influence of neighbourhood design on travel behaviour: Empirical evidence from North East England

Adjitandra, Mulley, Nelson, 2013, in Transport Policy

doi:10.1016/j.tranpol.2012.05.011
Location Tyne and Wear, England
Population Other (specify)
Sample size 716
Factor analysis type exploratory factor analysis, oblimin rotation
Stepwise regression no
Removal of insignificant variables no
Reviewed by LCM

Abstract

This paper investigates the factors that affect travel behaviour within neighbourhoods in Tyne and Wear, North East England while accounting for differences in attitudes and perceptions. Ten different neighbourhoods have been carefully selected to characterise the two different types of traditional and suburban neighbourhood street layouts. A self-administered questionnaire has been delivered to 2200 households to capture neighbourhood design, travel patterns, travel attitudes and socio-economic characteristics. Multivariate analysis of cross-sectional data shows that some socio-economic variables as well as travel attitudes and neighbourhood design preferences can explain the differences in travel patterns between the two distinct neighbourhood designs. The results show additionally that the traditional neighbourhood group is more sensitive to factors of perception and attitudes in relation to neighbourhood design that lead to walking, cycling and public transport use travel patterns, suggesting that land-use policy designed to accommodate lower carbon-based travel together with measures to encourage active travel will have greater impact on the traditional group than the suburban group. This finding suggests that generic measures imposed by many governments, and certainly implied by current UK land-use policy, to promote sustainable mobility should be selectively targeted. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.

Factors

Models

Dependent variable ln(VMD + 1)
Model type Ordinary least squares regression
Sample size 659.0
R2 0.656
Adjusted R2
Pseudo R2 (nan) nan
AIC nan
BIC nan
Log-likelihood at zero nan
Log-likelihood at constants nan
Log-likelihood at convergence nan
Variable Coefficient p-value
Constant 1.294 0
Suburban dummy (S=1, T=0) 0.248 0.013
Female -0.223 0.019
Employed 0.641 0
Driving license in household 0.951 0
Cars per adult 1.433 0
Pro-public transport use -0.281 0
Car dependent 0.278 0
Shopping/facilities accessibility (preference) -0.22 0.001
Residential spaciousness (perception) 0.13 0.027
Safety (preference) -0.158 0.023
Safety (perception) 0.165 0.015
Shopping/facilities accessibility (perception) 0.124 0.103
Suburban*shopping/facilities accessibility (preference) 0.13 0.171
Suburban*residential spaciousness (perception) -0.185 0.077
Suburban*safety (preference) 0.159 0.1
Suburban*safety (perception) -0.227 0.017
Suburban*shopping/facilities accessibility (perception) -0.015 0.879

The Attitudes and Travel Database is produced with support from the Center for Teaching Old Models New Tricks at Arizona State University, a University Transportation Center sponsored by the US Department of Transportation through Grant No. 69A3551747116.

sha256:a08d9e369743bf7e6d1c40d27347318209b40a7fb1543813fdcf31b898918815