Suburban growth in the U.S. urban regions has been defined by large subdivisions of single-family detached units. This growth is made possible by the mobility supported by automobiles and an extensive highway network. These dispersed and highly automobile-dependent developments have generated a large body of work examining the socioeconomic and environmental impacts of suburban growth on cities. The particular debate that this study addresses is whether suburban residents are more energy intensive in their travel behavior than central city residents. If indeed suburban residents have needs that are not satisfied by the amenities around them, they may be traveling farther to access such services. However, if suburbs are becoming like cities with a wide range of services and amenities, travel might be contained and no different from the travel behavior of residents in central areas. This paper will compare the effects of long term suburban growth on travel behavior, energy consumption, and GHG emissions through a case study of neighborhoods in central Phoenix and the city of Gilbert, both in the Phoenix metropolitan region. Motorized travel patterns in these study areas will be generated using 2001 and 2009 National Household Travel Survey (NHTS) data by developing a four-step transportation demand model in TransCAD. Energy consumption and GHG emissions, including both Carbon Dioxide (CO₂) and Nitrous Oxide (N₂O) for each study area will be estimated based on the corresponding trip distribution results. The final normalized outcomes will not only be compared spatially between Phoenix and Gilbert within the same year, but also temporally between years 2001 and 2009 to determine how the differential land use changes in those places influenced travel. The results from this study reveal that suburban growth does have an impact on people's travel behaviors. As suburbs grew and diversified, the difference in travel behavior between people living in suburban and urban areas became smaller. In the case of shopping trips the average length of trips for suburban residents in 2009 was slightly shorter than that for central city residents. This convergence was substantially due to the faster growth in trip lengths for central city compared to suburban residents in the 8-year period. However, suburban residents continue to be more energy intensive in their travel behavior, as the effect of reduction in trip length is likely to be offset by the more intensive growth in trip frequency. Additionally, overall energy consumption has grown significantly in both study areas over the period of study.

Thesis (MSc (Geography and Environmental Studies))--University of Stellenbosch, 2005. / The morphological form of South African cities is deemed inefficient and fragmented. Much of the current structure has been shaped by i) the political history of the country, with major influences from the colonial and apartheid eras; and ii) suburban sprawl influenced by the use of private vehicles. This presents obstacles to the sustainable and equitable development of our cities. Since the 1990s, efforts have been made to change the development of the country in order to accommodate previously disenfranchised communities through processes of reconstruction and development. Among these efforts are policies and frameworks aimed at guiding the development and growth of cities. Among the many approaches that have been identified are land use strategies, with the central focus of promoting densification and intensification of urban development. Emphasis on densification in certain public transport corridors and decentralised nodes are in general regarded as urban restructuring elements necessary to transform South African cities into efficient and sustainable areas. However, analytical tools that can explore the possibilities and limits of public transport-orientated development are scarce at present. The University of Utrecht in the Netherlands has developed an analytical model referred to as the node-place model, which can be used to profile nodes and to determine their (re)development potential. This study makes a contribution towards efforts to support the densification concept in general and nodal intensification in particular by applying the node-place model to a selection of railway stations in the Cape Town metropolitan area in order to identify appropriate land use developments to enhance their potential. The model was found to be a useful mechanism for comparing nodes within a transport system for purposes of informing decisions regarding how the nodes should be developed. However, the model requires more accurate and disaggregated data than is generally available for the Cape Town area.

Externhandelsområden står inför stora utmaningar i och med den digitaliserade handeln och samhällets utveckling mot det hållbara samhället. I takt med att städerna växer blir de externa handelsområdena en del av staden. Järfälla kommun i Stockholms län, nämner i sin översiktsplan att Barkarby Handelsplats år 2050 ska ha en stadsmässig bebyggelse som binder samman kommunens centrum till en stor kommunkärna. Syftet med arbetet var att undersöka möjligheterna att minska den externahandelns bilberoende genom förtätning. Frågan besvarades genom ett områdesförslag för Barkarby Handelsplats där handeln har anpassats till en stadsmässig struktur, med god tillgänglighet och fortsatt ekonomiskt värde. Genom teoretiska studier om förtätning kunde det konstateras att förtätning är en fungerande strategi för minskad biltrafik, om det görs i samband med en förbättrad kollektivtrafik. Studierna visade också att handeln anpassas allt mer till ett digitaliserat samhälle samtidigt som vikten av fysiska butiker fortfarandeär viktig för lönsamheten. Genom att minska butiksytorna och implementera hemleverans för stora varor kunde handeln anpassas till en stadsmässig struktur. För att behålla områdets tillgänglighet förbättrades områdets gång- och cykelnät, parkeringsplatser samlades vid områdets utkant och en ny kollektivtrafiklinje drogs genom området. / Decentralized retail sites are facing increased challenges with retail digitalization. Another challenge is that societies are progressing towards sustainable cities. As the cities grow the decentralized retail sites are becoming a centralized part of the city. Järfälla municipality in Stockholm County, mentions in their latest comprehensive plan that Barkarby Retail Center will have an urban development scheme in 2050. The plan also states that the area will be a part in connecting the local municipality centers. The aim of this study was to determine the possibilities of reducing car dependency in decentralized retail sites with compact development. The study resulted in an area proposal for Barkarby Retail Center, where the existing retail were adapted to an urban development with an improved accessibility and continued economic value. Theoretical studies concluded that compact development is a working strategy to make people drive less, if it is combined with an improved public transport. The studies also concluded that even though the retail is getting more digitalized, the importance of physical stores is still proven to be important for profitability. By minimizing the retail space and implementing home delivery for bulky goods, the decentralized retail could be adapted to an urban development scheme. In order to maintain the accessibility of the area, the area’s pedestrian and bicycle networks were improved, parking spaces were gathered at the outskirts of the area and a new public transport line was drawn through the area.

This study focuses on how spatial circumstances affect property owners’ preference toward sustainable urban development, in the form of three-essays. In the first essay, property owners’ preference toward the concept of compact development is identified. Compact development is an increasingly popular concept that includes multiple aspects, such as mixed land use, high density, and pedestrian/transit-friendly options. Previous hedonic literature on the comprehensive effect of compact development is limited. Also, spatial dependence in the data, something likely endemic to compact development, has not yet been thoroughly addressed. This study uses a spatial fixed-effect model, a spatial-autoregressive model with auto-regressive disturbances (SARAR), and a spatial fixed-effect SARAR model to determine the price effect of “compactness” in a major U.S. metropolitan area. By analyzing of 47,000 sales records in Fulton County over a decade, this study indicates that home buyers prefer to have smaller, more diffuse greenspace nearby, rather than a large, concentrated greenspace at a longer walking distance. High parcel density and diverse land use is consistently disvalued, and the premium on accessing public transportation is not identified among all models. No specific trend over time has been observed, despite the recession starting in 2008. Finally, a comprehensive index of compactness shows relatively high willingness-to-pay for compact development. The second essay tests the spatial spillover of signaling within the pursuit of LEED certification. The benefit of pursuing green building certification mainly comes from two aspects: the cost-effectiveness from energy efficiency and the signaling consideration, including the premium on property values, benefits from a better reputation, morality values, or purely pride. By analyzing all new constructions that received LEED certification from 2000 to 2012 (LEED-NC v2.0 to v2.2) in the U.S., this study tries to identify the size of the signaling effects, and spillover of signaling, as building owners pursue LEED certification. The results show that the signaling effect affects decision making in pursuing LEED certification, especially at scores around thresholds. The size of signaling effects differs among different owner types and different certificate levels. For the Gold level or below, government and non-profit-organization owners value signaling more than do profit-seeking firms. At the Platinum level, there is no significant difference among owner types. This study also finds that the signaling effect clusters spatially for government and profit-seeking firms. Finally, the results show that the cluster of signaling is independent from the cluster of LEED buildings, indicating that mechanisms behind the cluster of signaling are different from those of LEED constructions. The third essay tests the distance effect on the support for Atlanta BeltLine. Atlanta BeltLine, a large urban redevelopment project currently underway in the center of Atlanta, transforms 22 miles of historical railroad corridors into parks, trails, pedestrian-friendly transit areas, and affordable housing. This study aims to determine the distance effect on the support of Atlanta BeltLine and whether the implement of Tax Increment Financing (TIF) affects the support. The contributions of this exercise are twofold. First, it demonstrates the risks and remedies to missing spatial data by solving the technical problem of missing precise spatial location values. Second, it tests underlying reasons why distance can help explain the level of support that Atlanta BeltLine has received, with striking implications for theories like the Homevoter hypothesis. Survey data used in this study was conducted in summer 2009, about three years after the declaration of the project. The support by both homeowners and renters significantly declines as distance from the BeltLine increases. However, when residents’ tendency to use BeltLine parks and transits is entered as a variable, the distance effect disappears. By indicating that the distance effect comes from homeowners’ and renters’ the accessibility to BeltLine amenities, the result rejects the homevoter hypothesis, which holds that property value increment is the main mechanism behind support. The results also show that whether or not a homeowner or renter is a parent in City of Atlanta affects a person’s support of the BeltLine. These results lead to the conclusion that the concern of TIF affecting future school quality hampers the support of the project.

The dissertation focuses on rehabilitaion of urban space close to historic center of Brno city. One third of the area is taken by brownfields. These final goals were set: finding a new function for unused places, making a use of potential of Svitava canal and spaces in front of old buldings and creation of new urban spaces . Intervention includes creation of riverside designed for pedestrians, bike path construction, connecting area to city’s transportation system, bulding a new railway station and housing blocks with active street level and ability to walk througH area with as little obstacles as possible. Extra emphasis was placed on compactness of development, polyfunctionality and hierarchy of transpotration that respects man, his everyday life and needs. Concept reflects urban designing trends in 21st century.