IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/envirb/v38y2011i2p231-247.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

On Why Planning Should Not Reinforce Self-Reinforcing Trends: A Cautionary Analysis of the Compact-City Proposal Applied to Large Cities

Author

Listed:
  • António Ferreira

    (Department of Geography, Planning and International Development Studies, Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research, Nieuwe Prinsengracht 130, 1018 VZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands)

  • Peter Batey

    (Department of Civic Design, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 3BX, England)

Abstract

Urban densification has been presented as a general recipe to reduce travelling. The size of settlements was not considered particularly relevant in this proposal. Two arguments are presented that challenge the notion that densification of large cities leads to less travelling. The first is related to the internal dynamics of compact areas in large cities; the second to the dynamics between central and peripheral areas. It is shown that the densification of large cities leads to either more travelling because of the wide range of available opportunities provided by agglomeration effects, or more time spent on travelling due to congestion. The conclusion is that it is counterproductive for transport planning to endorse approaches that compact the urban form of large cities.

Suggested Citation

  • António Ferreira & Peter Batey, 2011. "On Why Planning Should Not Reinforce Self-Reinforcing Trends: A Cautionary Analysis of the Compact-City Proposal Applied to Large Cities," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 38(2), pages 231-247, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envirb:v:38:y:2011:i:2:p:231-247
    DOI: 10.1068/b36102
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1068/b36102
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1068/b36102?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mokhtarian, Patricia L. & Salomon, Ilan, 2001. "How derived is the demand for travel? Some conceptual and measurement considerations," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 35(8), pages 695-719, September.
    2. Lucas, Karen, 2006. "Providing transport for social inclusion within a framework for environmental justice in the UK," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 40(10), pages 801-809, December.
    3. Camagni, Roberto & Gibelli, Maria Cristina & Rigamonti, Paolo, 2002. "Urban mobility and urban form: the social and environmental costs of different patterns of urban expansion," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 199-216, February.
    4. David Levinson & Ajay Kumar, 1994. "The Rational Locator: Why Travel Times Have Remained Stable," Working Papers 199402, University of Minnesota: Nexus Research Group.
    5. David Levinson & Yao Wu, 2005. "The rational locator reexamined: Are travel times still stable?," Transportation, Springer, vol. 32(2), pages 187-202, March.
    6. Mokhtarian, Patricia L. & Salomon, Ilan, 2001. "How derived is the demand for travel? Some conceptual and measurement considerations," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 35(8), pages 695-719, September.
    7. Yao Wu & David Levinson, 2005. "The Rational Locator Reexamined," Working Papers 200503, University of Minnesota: Nexus Research Group.
    8. Kenworthy, Jeffrey R. & Laube, Felix B., 1999. "Patterns of automobile dependence in cities: an international overview of key physical and economic dimensions with some implications for urban policy," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 33(7-8), pages 691-723.
    9. repec:cdl:uctcwp:qt4874r4hg is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Vale, David S., 2013. "Does commuting time tolerance impede sustainable urban mobility? Analysing the impacts on commuting behaviour as a result of workplace relocation to a mixed-use centre in Lisbon," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 38-48.
    2. António Ferreira & Els Beukers & Marco Te Brömmelstroet, 2012. "Accessibility is Gold, Mobility is Not: A Proposal for the Improvement of Dutch Transport-Related Cost-Benefit Analysis," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 39(4), pages 683-697, August.
    3. Longden, Thomas, 2016. "The Regularity and Irregularity of Travel: an Analysis of the Consistency of Travel Times Associated with Subsistence, Maintenance and Discretionary Activities," ET: Economic Theory 243150, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    4. Longden, Thomas, 2016. "The Regularity and Irregularity of Travel: an Analysis of the Consistency of Travel Times Associated with Subsistence, Maintenance and Discretionary Activities," ETA: Economic Theory and Applications 243150, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    5. Amlan Banerjee & Xin Ye & Ram Pendyala, 2007. "Understanding Travel Time Expenditures Around the World: Exploring the Notion of a Travel Time Frontier," Transportation, Springer, vol. 34(1), pages 51-65, January.
    6. Chunil Kim & Choongik Choi, 2019. "Towards Sustainable Urban Spatial Structure: Does Decentralization Reduce Commuting Times?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-28, February.
    7. Hao Wu & David Levinson, 2018. "Optimum Stop Spacing for Accessibility," Working Papers 171, University of Minnesota: Nexus Research Group.
    8. Chikaraishi, Makoto & Jana, Arnab & Bardhan, Ronita & Varghese, Varun & Fujiwara, Akimasa, 2017. "A framework to analyze capability and travel in formal and informal urban settings: A case from Mumbai," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 101-110.
    9. Sweet, Matthias N., 2014. "Do firms flee traffic congestion?," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 40-49.
    10. Wang, Donggen & Chai, Yanwei & Li, Fei, 2011. "Built environment diversities and activity–travel behaviour variations in Beijing, China," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 19(6), pages 1173-1186.
    11. De Vos, Jonas & Witlox, Frank, 2013. "Transportation policy as spatial planning tool; reducing urban sprawl by increasing travel costs and clustering infrastructure and public transportation," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 117-125.
    12. Natalia Presman & Arie Arnon, 2006. "Commuting patterns in Israel 1991-2004," Bank of Israel Working Papers 2006.04, Bank of Israel.
    13. Ma, Kang-Rae & Kang, Eun-Taek, 2011. "Time–space convergence and urban decentralisation," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 606-614.
    14. Tae‐Hyoung Tommy Gim, 2021. "Quantile regression on the nonlinear relationship between land use and trip time," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 100(4), pages 1055-1077, August.
    15. Feng, Jianxi & Dijst, Martin & Wissink, Bart & Prillwitz, Jan, 2017. "Changing travel behaviour in urban China: Evidence from Nanjing 2008–2011," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 1-10.
    16. Natalia Presman & Arie Arnon, 2000. "Commuting Patterns in Israel," Regional and Urban Modeling 283600076, EcoMod.
    17. Pengjun Zhao & Bin Lü & Gert de Roo, 2010. "Urban Expansion and Transportation: The Impact of Urban form on Commuting Patterns on the City Fringe of Beijing," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 42(10), pages 2467-2486, October.
    18. Antonio Páez & Steven Farber, 2012. "Participation and desire: leisure activities among Canadian adults with disabilities," Transportation, Springer, vol. 39(6), pages 1055-1078, November.
    19. Carlton Basmajian, 2010. "“Turn on the radio, bust out a song”: the experience of driving to work," Transportation, Springer, vol. 37(1), pages 59-84, January.
    20. Wesley E. Marshall & Eric Dumbaugh, 2020. "Revisiting the relationship between traffic congestion and the economy: a longitudinal examination of U.S. metropolitan areas," Transportation, Springer, vol. 47(1), pages 275-314, February.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:envirb:v:38:y:2011:i:2:p:231-247. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.