Transport and the Urban Environment
Topic 4 – Urban Transportation, Land Use and the
Environment
A – Urban Land Use and Transportation
B – Environmental Impacts of the Transportation /
Land Use System
C – Case Studies
A
Urban Land Use and Transportation



1. The Transportation / Land Use System
2. Transportation and Urban Form
3. Transportation and Urban Structure
A-1
Land Use and Transportation

Urban areas are transportation / land use systems





Complex entities with a multitude of functions.
System where locations and spatial accumulation form land
uses.
Urban land use:
 Expresses the attributes of the urban space.
 Attempt to interpret spatial elements and their
interrelations.
This system is highly complex and includes several
relationships.
Each of them is part of a sub-system including the transport
system, spatial interactions and land use.
A-1
Land Use and Transportation

Conceptual Overview





The relationships between transportation and land use have
been investigated for a long time and subject to numerous
approaches.
Von Thunen regional land use model.
Burgess concentric land use model.
Sector and nuclei land use patterns.
Land rent theory.
A-1
Formal and Functional Land Use
Formal Land Use
Functional Land Use
Shopping center
Commercial
Factories
Industrial
Park
Leisure
Apartments
High density residential
Bungalows
Low density residential
A-1
The Transport / Land Use System
Infrastructures (supply)
Transport System
• Traffic assignment
models
• Transport capacity
Friction of Space
Spatial Interactions
• Spatial interaction
models
• Distance decay
parameters
• Modal split
Spatial Accumulation
(demand)
Land Use
• Economic base
theory
• Location theory
• Traffic generation
and attraction models
A-1
Von Thunen’s Regional Land Use Model
Isolated State
Modified Conditions
Central city
Navigable river
Market gardening and
milk production
Firewood and lumber
production
Crop farming without
fallow
Crop framing, fallow
and pasture
Three-field system
Livestock farming
Model
The Burgess Urban Land Use Model
Chicago, 1920s
I - Loop (downtown)
II - Factory zone
III - Zone of transition
Ghetto LOOP
Two Plan
Area
IV - Working class zone
Black Belt
A-1
V - Residential zone
VI - Commuter zone
Residential District
Bungalow
Section
A-1
Sector and Nuclei Urban Land Use Representations
Sector
Nuclei
3
2
3
4
3
1
3
4
3
5
3
3
2
3
3
1
7
5
6
4
1 CBD
2 Wholesale and light manufacturing
3 Low-class residential
4 Middle-class residential
5 High-class residential
9
6 Heavy manufacturing
7 Sub business district
8 Residential suburb
9 Industrial suburb
8
A-1
Theory of Land Rent
1
Rent
Industry/
commercial
Retail
Apartments
Single houses
Distance from downtown
2
Rent
a
b
3
a Retailing
b Industry/commercial
c Apartments
d Single houses
City limits
c
d
c
d
b
a
A-2
Transportation and Urban Form

Urban form





The form of a city greatly influences and is influenced by
travel patterns, origins and destinations.
The dense urban cores of many European, Japanese and
Chinese cities enable residents to make 30 to 60 percent of
all trips by walking and cycling.
The dispersed urban form of Australian and American cities
encourages reliance on the car.
There is a wide variety of urban forms and urban
transportation systems.
Impact of the private car


An increasing number of cities worldwide seem to be
developing at a scale that increases reliance on the privately
owned automobile.
Dispersion is taking place in many different types of cities.
A-2
Type I - Completely Motorized Network
Road
Highway
Activity center
A-2
Type II - Weak Center
Road
Highway
Transit line
Activity center
A-2
Type III - Strong Center
Road
Highway
Transit line
Activity center
A-2
Type IV - Traffic Limitation
Road
Highway
Transit line
Activity center
A-2
Transportation and Urban Form

Major changes


The central business district (CBD):
 Once the primary destination of commuters.
 Serviced by public transportation.
 Rendered obsolete by changing manufacturing, retailing
and management practices.
Activities
 Traditional manufacturing depended on centralized
workplaces and transportation schemes.
 Advanced technology has rendered modern industry
more flexible.
 As a result, job opportunities have shifted to the suburbs
and the activity system of cities has been considerably
modified.
A-2
Evolution of the Activity System of a City
Financial
Retailing
Wholesaling
Financial
Insurance
Warehousing
Industrial
Warehousing
Wholesaling
Transportation
Transportation
Wholesaling
Industrial
Transportation
Warehousing
A
B
Core activities
C
Central activities
Financial
Retailing
Peripheral activities
A-2
Transportation and Urban Form

Evolution of transportation and urban form





Generally led to a change in most urban forms.
Dispersed urban land development patterns:
 Dominant in North America.
 Land is abundant
 Transportation costs are low.
 Economy dominated by service and technology
industries.
Travel has become relatively inexpensive compared with
land costs.
Households have an incentive to buy lower-priced housing at
the urban periphery.
Similar patterns can be found in many European cities, but
the change is occurring at a slightly slower pace.
A-2
Evolution of Transportation and Urban Form

Decentralization of activities





Commuter journeys, many of which now occur from suburb to
suburb, are shortened.
Usage of privately owned car rather than public transportation.
Most transit and road systems were developed to facilitate suburbto-city, rather than suburb-to-suburb, commuting.
Suburban highways are often as congested as urban highways.
Consequences




The cost of building and operating urban transportation systems
(highways, roads, transit, etc.) is becoming prohibitive.
Dispersed residential pattern makes transit systems less
convenient for commuting.
In the developing world, unplanned and uncoordinated land use
development has led to rapid expansion of the urban periphery.
Poorer residents, mainly living in shantytowns, do not have access
to affordable and convenient public transportation.
A-2
Evolution of Transportation and Urban Form,
Technological Impacts
I
II
III
IV
I - Walking-horsecar era (1800-1890)
II - Streetcar era (1890-1920)
III - Automobile era (1920-1945)
IV - Freeway era (1945-)
A-3
Transportation and Urban Structure

Strong variations




In the pre-automobile era, about 10% of the land of a city
was devoted to transportation.
On average, 30% of the urban surface is devoted to roads
while another 20% is required for off-street parking.
United States:
 155,000 square kilometers of the American territory are
reserved for car use.
 Urban transportation often accounts between 30 to 60%
of the surface with infrastructures such as roads,
highways and parking spaces.
 About 10% of all arable land.
 More land is used by cars than land devoted to housing.
For Western Europe roads account for between 15% and
20% of the urban surface and for Third World cities, this
figure is about 10%.
A-3
Space Consumption by Different Urban Transport
Modes
1/3 full ligh rail/metro
Full light rail/metro
1/3 full bus
Full bus
Car with 1 person
Fully occupied car
Cyclist
Space required per person (in sqr m)
Speed (km/hr)
Pedestrian
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
A-3
Transportation and Urban Structure

Suburbanization







Diffusion of ubiquitous and cheap road transportation in
urban areas after the Second World War.
Favored the emergence of a new and distinct urban
environment.
Available and cheap road transport.
Low land costs and available land (large houses).
Environment (clean and quiet).
Safety.
Car-oriented services (shopping malls).
A-3
Suburban Development along an Highway
Interchange
Retail
Office
Industrial
Residential
Highway
Railway
Core
A-3
Transportation and the Urban Structure

Changes in urban structures






Fast urbanization processes.
 Greater number of people living in cities.
 Increased numbers of trips in urban areas.
Expanding the transportation supply.
New highways and/or transit lines.
Building more roads to accommodate an ever-growing
number of vehicles
Creating new urban structures.
Ring roads


Facing the expansion of urban areas and the increasing
importance of inter-urban movements several ring roads
were built around major cities.
Important attribute of the spatial structures of cities, notably
in North America.
A-3
The Rationale of a Ring Road
Avoiding the congested
central area
City
Center
Secondary
Center
Structuring suburban
development
B
Environmental Impacts of the Transportation / Land
Use System



1. Urban Transport Issues
2. Land Requirement and Consumption
3. Spatial Form, Pattern and Interaction
B-1
Urban Transport Issues

Importance of the issue






Cities are places having a high level of accumulation and
concentration of economic activities.
Complex spatial structures to be supported by transport
systems.
The most important transport problems are often related to
urban areas.
Urban productivity depends in part on the efficiency of its
transport system, notably to move labor and merchandises
between several origins and destinations.
Urban transportation is concerned about movements of
people, goods and information within urban areas.
Cities are important generators and attractors of movements.
B-1
Urban Transport Issues

Segregation




Differentiation between land uses is a generator of
movements as people and freight move from several origins
and destinations.
The more complex the land use patterns in a city the more
complex movements will be.
Efficient and affordable transportation will enhance the
segregation of land uses.
Agglomeration




Since cities benefit from agglomeration economies, they also
decrease transport costs.
Activities are located nearby each-others so they are
accessible.
Agglomeration of movements in a limited area creates traffic,
which renders movements more expensive.
Can reach a point where the advantages of agglomeration
are overthrown by congestion.
B-1
Urban Transport Issues

Space Consumption





The main goal of transportation is obviously to overcome the
friction of space.
Transportation is also a major consumer of space.
Space is the most expansive in urban areas, transport
consumes a lot of space in those areas.
Private car:
 Requires space to move around (roads).
 Also spends 98% of its existence stationary in a parking
space.
 A significant amount of urban space must thus be
allocated to accommodate the private car.
The structure of urban land use has an important impact
over transport demand and over the capacity of
transportation systems to answer such needs.
B-2
Land Requirement and Consumption

Issue




The land requirement of human activities, particularly in
urban areas, has considerably grown.
30 to 60% of urban areas are taken by road transportation
infrastructure alone (road and parking lots).
In extreme cases of dependency on road transportation such
as Los Angeles, it reaches 70%.
City size




The notion of cities was replaced by the notion of
metropolitan areas and urban regions along corridors.
Reclamation of vast amounts of land from rural activities
towards urban use.
Duplication and generalization of infrastructure
 Resulted in supplementary land requirements.
The general aim was to convey a high level of accessibility
to answer mobility demand of vast areas.
B-2
Land Requirement and Consumption

Density







The geographical growth of cities has not been proportional
to the growth of population.
Lower densities and higher waste of space.
Such phenomena have not occurred in the same fashion
and in the same proportion over the world.
Typically the case for North American cities.
An increase in the quantity of energy consumed and waste
generated has been the outcome.
The urban land use and its transport system have expanded
environmental impacts of cities.
The bulk of transport and the environment issues are linked
with urban areas.
B-3
Spatial Form, Pattern and Interaction

Spatial form


Spatial pattern


The spatial aspect of the city in terms of its extent.
The organization of the land use in terms of location.
Spatial interaction




The intensity of movements between spatial entities.
Spatial location of activities (residence, work, shopping,
production and consumption).
 Indications on the required travel demand and average
distances between activities.
Specialized land use functions and a spatial segregation
between economic activities, interactions are increasing in
proportion.
The outward expansion of cities has given a relative uniform
distribution of land use densities, notably in cities with a
previously low level of density.
Form
Pattern
Interaction
B-3
Spatial Form, Pattern and Interaction and the
Environmental Impacts of Transportation
Morphology, Urban Transportation and OR
g1(qij)
Spatial strategies
min :  g qij 
g2(qij)
Transport Costs
B-3
qij  f d ij 
Transport strategies
g3(qij)
Traffic assignment
B-3
Spatial Form, Pattern and Interaction

Residence / work separation




Becoming acute as well as the average commuting distance.
 The average commuting time has climbed from 21.7 minutes in
1980 to 22.4 minutes in 1990.
Different urban concentrations are linked to different levels of
energy consumption and environmental impacts.
Difficult to provide transportation services at an efficient cost.
Land use changes





A slow process.
Annual rates lower than 2% makes it difficult to establish sound
transportation / land use strategies that could have effective
impacts in a short period.
It took 30 to 50 years to North American, Australian and to some
extent European cities to reach their current patterns.
May take the same amount of time to reach a new "equilibrium".
The environmental impacts of transportation and land use are likely
to stay prevalent in the urban context for several decades.
B-3
Integration of Urban Transportation Modes
Passenger terminal
Main transit line
Parking area
Highway
Inner-city
pedestrian area
Primary ring road
Suburban
development
corridor
Secondary ring road
C
Case Studies





1. The Chinese Context
2. Urban Land Use Changes in China
3. Urban Transportation in Shanghai
4. Urban Transportation and Air Pollution in Shanghai
5. Policies and Challenges
20,000
18,000
16,000
14,000
12,000
10,000
8,000
6,000
4,000
19
9
5
19
9
3
19
9
1
19
9
9
19
8
7
19
8
5
19
8
3
19
8
1
0
7
Production
Consumption
2,000
19
8
C-1
Crude Oil Production and Consumption, United
States, 1981-1998 (in 1,000 of barrels per day)
4,500
4,000
3,500
3,000
2,500
2,000
1,500
1,000
Production
Consumption
500
19
97
5
19
9
3
19
9
19
91
9
19
8
19
87
5
19
8
19
8
3
0
19
81
C-1
Crude Oil Production and Consumption, China, 19811998 (in 1,000 of barrels per day)
C-2
Pre 1980s Chinese City
Transportation
Land Use
Main arterial
“Center of power”
Rail
Commercial /
Institutional
Compact
Transit-oriented
Labor intensive
industrial
High density
agricultural
C-2
Pre 1980s Chinese City

Resource and
commercial
hinterland
Spatial structure




Agricultural
hinterland


National
Economy
Work unit as basic
organizational structure.
Compact and limited mobility
needs.
Walking and cycling are
dominant.
Several nucleus.
Locally oriented development.
Limited centrality.
C-2
Post 1980s Chinese City
Transportation
Land Use
Main arterial
“Center of power”
Rail
Commercial /
Institutional
Freeway
Mass transit
Compact
Transit-oriented
Labor intensive
industrial
High density
agricultural
Compact
motorized
Administrative /
commercial
New industrial activities
Development zones
Terminals / logistical
C-2
Post 1980s Chinese City

Resource and
commercial
hinterland
Spatial structure




Agricultural
hinterland

Migration
National
Economy
Global
Economy
Mixture of local and
international actors.
Creation of a motorized
space.
“Spatial stamping”.
Morphological “creative
destruction”.
Emerging centrality /
polynuclearism.
Office Space Supply and Demand, Beijing 1984-2000
1200
40
Supply
Take up
Vacancy rate
1000
35
30
800
25
600
20
15
400
10
200
5
2000
1999
1998
1997
1996
1995
1994
1993
1992
1991
1990
1989
1988
1987
1986
0
1985
0
1984
C-2
C-3
Mode Used for All Trip Purposes, Shanghai 1995
33%
15%
2%
3%
2%
45%
Pedestrian
Bicycle
Public Transit
Taxi
Motorbike
Private Bus
C-3
Main Modes Used for Commuting in the United
States, 1995
5%
4% 3%
Car
Transit
Walk
Work at home
88%
C-3
Evolution of Non-Pedestrian Modal Use, Shanghai
1981-1995
100%
2
80%
30
4
40
60%
40%
10
68
68
56
20%
22
0%
1981
1985
1995
Other
Bicycle
Transit
C-3
Non-Pedestrian Modal Use, Shanghai 1995
100%
80%
Other
Bicycle
Motorbike
Taxi
Private bus
Transit
60%
40%
20%
0%
Total
Center
Pudong
Suburb
C-3
Performance of the Taxi Industry, Shanghai, 19911998
400,000
350,000
300,000
Total km travelled
(1,000s)
Km travelled with
passengers (1,000s)
250,000
200,000
150,000
100,000
50,000
0
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
70
60
18000
Bus trips (billions)
Number of buses
50
16000
14000
12000
40
10000
30
8000
20
6000
4000
10
0
19
78
19
79
19
80
19
81
19
82
19
83
19
84
19
85
19
86
19
87
19
88
19
89
19
90
19
91
19
92
19
93
19
94
19
95
19
96
19
97
19
98
C-3
Evolution of the Bus Fleet and Ridership, Shanghai,
1978-1998
2000
0
C-3
Trips by Transportation Mode, Shanghai, 1991-1998
(in billions)
70
60
50
Subway
Taxi
Private Bus
Bus
40
30
20
10
0
1991
1992 1993
1994 1995
1996
1997
1998
C-4
Emissions per km for Various Vehicles to Transport
140 Passengers (in grams)
Motorcycle
HC
NOx
CO
Car
Bus
0
500
1000
1500
C-4
Vehicle Emission of Pollutants, Shanghai 1990-2000
(in 10,000 tons per year)
80
70
60
50
HC
NOx
CO
40
30
20
10
0
1990
1992
1994
1995
2000
C-4
Contribution of Vehicles to Pollution Emissions,
Shanghai, 1994-2005
100
90
80
70
60
CO
NOx
HC
50
40
30
20
10
0
1994
1995
2000
2005
C-4
Emissions of Air Pollutants (grams per km) for a
Passenger Car in the United States and China, 1997
0.91
Nitrogren Oxides
0.93
21.50
Carbon Monoxide
13.66
3.04
Hydrocarbons
China
USA
1.8
0
5
10
15
20
25
C-4
Emissions of Air Pollutants (grams per km) for a
Light Truck in the United States and China, 1997
5.13
Nitrogren Oxides
1.17
20.30
Carbon Monoxide
18.00
17.50
Hydrocarbons
2.29
0
5
10
15
20
China
USA
25
C-4
Daily Concentrations of Pollutants at Main Street
Intersections, Shanghai 1994
6
100
87
5.13
85
90
5
80
70
4
3.4
3
50
2.1
2
1
60
40
26.8
30
20
0.7
0.31
0.3
10
0
0
NOx (0.10)
Average level (mg/m3)
CO (4.00)
HC (0.16*)
Average ratio above standard
% Above Standard
C-5
Policies and Challenges

The North American Context





Abundance of land.
Low transportation costs.
Economy dominated by service and technological industries.
Multiplicity of jurisdictions.
Current issues and policies in North America





Fuel taxes, clean fuels (hydrogen) and non-polluting
technologies.
Promotion of energy-efficient transportation modes and of
non-motorized modes.
Demand control (licensing and restrictions).
Traffic management (separation between transit and car).
Integration of transport modes and land uses.
Density and Car Use in North American Cities, 1991
40
35
Urban density (pers./ha)
C-5
Montreal
30
25
Los Angeles
Toronto
20
New York
15
Chicago
R2 = 0.694
10
Houston
5
5,000
7,000
9,000
11,000
Car use per capita (km)
13,000
15,000
C-5
Policies and Challenges

Shanghai







Fast growth of the fleet
900,000 vehicles in 2000.
Motorized vehicles (buses, trucks and cars).
10,000 cars in 2000.
 Expecting to have 100,000 cars by 2005.
 Strong lobbying by GM and Volkswagen.
Cycles and motorcycles.
 700,000 motorcycles in 2000.
 No new licenses permitted.
Retirement of old vehicles.
Infrastructure provision
 Amount of roads per capita has doubled.
 Not keeping up with the demand.
C-5
Urban Transportation Environmental Challenges

Vehicle emission control and regulations



Fuel policy




About 50% of vehicles do not meet Chinese standards.
Chinese standards are 25 years behind Western standards.
About 99% of vehicles are using leaded fuel.
600,000 tons of lead emitted each year.
Pricing incentives.
Engine technology




Improving air/fuel ratio in engines.
Electronic fuel injection system and catalytic converters.
Shift to diesel for heavy trucks.
Compressed natural gas for buses (60% less emissions).
C-5
Urban Transportation Environmental Challenges

Public transit



Traffic management




Drop of speed of surface public transportation.
Shift to cycling.
Congestion.
Rules and safety.
About 50% of the time will be spent idle.
Traffic separation



Increase vehicle speed (about 10 km/hr faster).
10 to 20% less pollutant emissions.
Reduce level of exposure, especially for bicycles.
C-5
Urban Transportation Environmental Challenges

Exposure



Very high level of exposure.
Land use factors.
Activity factors.