A REGIONAL ANALYSIS OF URBAN POPULATION AND TRANSPORT ENERGY CONSUMPTION

By Houshmand E. Masoumi and Hamid Soltanzadeh

The association between urban population density and transport energy consumption is a well-discussed topic in the metropolitan level. However it is less studied in the regional scale. This paper demonstrates the results of an observation about transport energy use in 174 regions of Iran. Logarithmic regression analysis shows very weak associations between urban population density and transport fuel use in the regional level. However statistical analysis of population size and the area of the regions by means of Kruskal-Wallis test indicates that regions with medium populations of between 100000 and 500000 inhabitants and areas of between 2000 and 5000 square kilometers enjoy more energy-efficient consumption than regions with more than 500000 people and 15000 square kilometers area and small regions of less than 100000 residents and 2000 square kilometers. This observation raises the question about higher energy efficiency of mid-sized cities and regions. Also more specialized studies about urban sprawl and its impacts on transport energy consumption in small towns and rural places seem desirable.

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more about energy consumption:

MITIGATING URBAN HEAT ISLAND EFFECT BY URBAN DESIGN: FORMS AND MATERIALS

A new approach to the Iranian urban planning, using neo-traditional development

Energy Access in Urban Slums: A Case of Khon Kaen, Thailand

A Methodology for Incorporating Fuel Price Impacts into Short-term Transit Ridership Forecasts

Reduction of CO2 emissions of transport by reorganisation of urban activities

Modeling Energy Consumption and CO2 Emissions at the Urban Scale: Methodological Challenges and Insights from the United States

Sustainability on the Urban Scale: ‘Green Urbanism’

Urban Resilience: Research Prospectus, A Resilience Alliance Initiative for Transitioning Urban Systems towards Sustainable Futures

Climate change and urban transportation systems

By Haluk Gerçek,  Klaus Jacob, and Sumeeta Srinivasan

This chapter primarily focuses on the movement of people or passengers, and where relevant, issues of freight or information are referenced. Many transportation systems, especially urban mass transit, particularly in developing countries, are predominantly publicly owned and operated, but other systems (such as air and water-based transport) are more often privately owned; as are cars, vans, and trucks owned and operated by individuals. However, the ownership and management patterns for transportation systems vary by city and country and are an important factor in the design of institutional arrangements to formulate and implement mitigation and adaptation strategies. The ability to mitigate and adapt to climate change related scenarios depends on ownership. For instance, a publicly owned facility may have access to direct and indirect subsidies and large-scale public investments that are unavailable for private sector operators.

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more about climate change and cities:

URBAN SPRAWL AND CLIMATIC CHANGES IN TEHRAN

Daytime urban heat island effect in high-rise and high-density residential developments in Hong Kong

MITIGATING URBAN HEAT ISLAND EFFECT BY URBAN DESIGN: FORMS AND MATERIALS

Sustainable Transport and Climate Change: Environmentally Experiences and lessons from community initiatives

Asian cities at highest risk to climate change, study says

Research on Factors Relating to Density and Climate Change

Mexico’s Proposed 2012 Budget Fails to Allocate Adequate Funding for Climate Change

Feasibility of Voluntary Reduction of Private Car Use

By Margareta Friman, Tore Pedersen and Tommy Gärling

In this research report we propose a classification of the various TDM-measures, encompassing the specific characteristics of each, how the various measures may be distinguished from each other and to what extent they may interact, as well as how effective they are in modifying or reducing private car use. One distinction between the various TDM measures is that between coerciveness and non-coerciveness, that is whether a change is forced upon the private car users (e.g., road closures) or whether they are motivated to make a voluntary change (e.g., informational campaigns). Another partly overlapping distinction is that between top-down and bottom-up processes, where the former refers to changes that are not freely chosen, whereas the latter empowers car users to voluntarily change. A third distinction is that of time scale, that is at what times of day the measures are implemented, for instance, congestion pricing only during peak hours. The fourth distinction is spatial scale, that is where the measure is applied, for instance in the city centers. Marked-based (e.g., pricing mechanisms) versus regulatory-based (e.g., legislation) measures makes up a fifth distinction. A final distinction is that between influencing latent versus manifest travel demand. Measures that aims to impact the former typically consist of, for instance, building of new roads to reduce congestion, whereas measures that aim to impact the latter is characterized by an impact on manifest travel behaviour, for instance, limiting car access to specific areas at specific times of day.

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more about travel behavior research:

What if you live in the wrong neighborhood? The impact of residential neighborhood type dissonance on distance traveled

Vehicle Miles Traveled and the Built Environment: Evidence from Vehicle Safety Inspection Data

Residential Self-Selection and Its Effects on Urban Commute Travels in Iranian Cities Compared to US, UK, and Germany

MODELING THE TRAVEL BEHAVIOR IMPACTS OF MICRO-SCALE LAND USE AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC FACTORS

A Copula-Based Approach to Accommodate Residential Self-Selection Effects in Travel Behavior Modeling

QUALITATIVE METHODS IN TRAVEL BEHAVIOUR RESEARCH

GPS in pedestrian and spatial behaviour surveys

Lecture on sampling methods by Prof. Murtaza Haider

Societal trends, mobility behaviour and sustainable transport in Europe and North America

By Georg Rudinger, Kieran Donaghy and Stefan Poppelreuter

This contribution describes the work of Focus Group three of the European Union network Sustainable Transport in Europe and Links and Liaisons to America (STELLA). It examines especially social and behavioural aspects of sustainable transport from a transatlantic perspective. Significant societal trends (e.g. the ageing of societies) are surveyed and their implications for mobility behaviour are drawn. The sustainability of this behaviour is considered along with constraints and drivers of this behaviour in Europe and North America. The contribution takes up relevant policy issues and concludes with a discussion of a transatlantic research agenda on social and behavioural aspects of sustainable transport.

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more about sustainable transportation:

A THEORETICAL APPROACH TO CAPABILITIES OF THE TRADITIONAL URBAN FORM IN PROMOTING SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORTATION

Sustainable Transport and Climate Change: Environmentally Experiences and lessons from community initiatives

Challenges of urban transport in developing countries- a summary

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

TOWARDS A SUSTAINABLE URBAN TRANSPORT SYSTEM: PLANNING FOR NON-MOTORIZED VEHICLES IN CITIES

Opportunities for transport mode change: an exploration of a disaggregated approach

A new approach to the Iranian urban planning, using neo-traditional development

MODELING THE TRAVEL BEHAVIOR IMPACTS OF MICRO-SCALE LAND USE AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC FACTORS

What if you live in the wrong neighborhood? The impact of residential neighborhood type dissonance on distance traveled

by Tim Schwanen and Patricia L. Mokhtarian

While urban form in general and density in particular are believed by many to significantly influence travel behavior, various recent studies have argued that the true determinants of travel patterns are attitudes rather than land use characteristics. This research builds on this notion and investigates to what extent a lackof congruence between physical neighborhood structure and preferences regarding land use near one s home location (termed residential neighborhood type dissonance or mismatch) affect distance traveled overall and by mode. A conceptual model is described in which the relationship between neighborhood type dissonance and distance traveled is embedded in a wider set of individual and household choices, and tobit models of the influence of neighborhood type mismatch are presented. The results suggest that neighborhood type mismatch should be taken into account in future research as well as in policies attempting to modify travel behavior through land use regulations.

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more about travel behavior:

Vehicle Miles Traveled and the Built Environment: Evidence from Vehicle Safety Inspection Data

Residential Self-Selection and Its Effects on Urban Commute Travels in Iranian Cities Compared to US, UK, and Germany

MODELING THE TRAVEL BEHAVIOR IMPACTS OF MICRO-SCALE LAND USE AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC FACTORS

Determinants of Automobile Use: A Comparison of Germany and the U.S.

UNDERSTANDING PERCEPTIONS OF ACCESSIBILITY AND MOBILITY THROUGH STRUCTURATION THEORY

A Copula-Based Approach to Accommodate Residential Self-Selection Effects in Travel Behavior Modeling

Examining the Impacts of Residential Self-Selection on Travel Behaviour: A Focus on Empirical Findings

MODELLING AND PROSPECTS OF THE AUDIENCE MEASUREMENT FOR OUTDOOR ADVERTISING BASED ON DATA COLLECTION USING GPS DEVICES (ELECTRONIC PASSIVE MEASUREMENT SYSTEM)

Applying a CA-based model to explore land-use policy scenarios to contain sprawl in Thessaloniki, Greece

By Apostolos Lagarias and Poulicos Prastacos

This study addresses the issue of urban sprawl through the application of a Cellular Automata (CA) based model in the area of Thessaloniki, Greece. To link macro-scale to micro-dynamic processes the model integrates a statistical model at the regional level with a CA model at the local level. The model is used to compare two scenarios of growth of Thessaloniki to year 2030; the first one assuming a continuation of existing trends, whereas the second one assuming the enactment of various land use regulations in order to contain urban sprawl. The comparison of the results demonstrate that in the second scenario there is a smaller degree of leapfrog growth, with high percentage of new developed land being inside the existing city plans with development in areas outside the plans and in agricultural areas being minimized.

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more about urban sprawl:

Urban Sprawl Pattern Recognition Using Remote Sensing and GIS – Case Study Shiraz City, Iran

URBAN SPRAWL IN MID-SIZED CITIES OF MENA, EVIDENCE FROM YAZD AND KASHAN IN CENTRAL IRAN

URBAN SPRAWL AND CLIMATIC CHANGES IN TEHRAN

The Impact of Urban Sprawl up on Air Pollution 

Strategy for Sustainable Urban Development: A Case Study of Urmia City, Iran

Studying the effects of urban sprawl of metropolis on tourism - climate index oscillation: A case study of Tehran city

Urban Sprawl Pattern Recognition Using Remote Sensing and GIS – Case Study Shiraz City, Iran

By Ab. Latif bin Ibrahim and Mahdi Sabet Sarvestani

In this research with respect to increasing role of Geoinformation sciences in environmental studies and the importance of sustainable development in urban planning, Shiraz city as the most important city in the southern part of Iran was selected for urban growth studies and the estimation of natural resources destruction during past three decades. For this purpose different satellite images of the study area since 1976 to 2005, and population censuses of Shiraz city in this time period were used. Four main land use types such as water, constructed areas, vegetation and bareland areas were classified from satellite images of Shiraz city. Then land use coverage for different dates of the classified maps have been measured and with respect to population, the built-up and vegetation per capita also calculated. The results of this study showed that in despite of general belief, in recent years the vegetation coverage has not decreased extremely but it was not grown correspondingly to urban growth. It is recommended that the future planning will be more focused on protection of available vegetation and compensation of destroyed coverage.

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More about Middle Eastern cities:

URBAN SPRAWL IN MID-SIZED CITIES OF MENA, EVIDENCE FROM YAZD AND KASHAN IN CENTRAL IRAN

Urbanization and Natural Disasters in the Mediterranean Population Growth and Climate Change in the 21st Century Case Studies on Izmit, Algiers and Alexandria

GATED COMMUNITIES: PHYSICAL CONSTRUCTION OR SOCIAL DESTRUCTION TOOL?

URBAN SPRAWL IN IRANIAN CITIES AND ITS DIFFERENCES WITH THE WESTERN SPRAWL

MESSAGE FROM TRADITIONAL SETTLEMENTS FOR FUTURE CITIES

Cairo’s Informal Areas Between Urban Challenges and Hidden Potentials

TRADITIONAL SHOPPING: A Syntactic Comparison of Commercial Spaces in Iran and Turkey

URBAN SPRAWL AND CLIMATIC CHANGES IN TEHRAN

A THEORETICAL APPROACH TO CAPABILITIES OF THE TRADITIONAL URBAN FORM IN PROMOTING SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORTATION

Vehicle Miles Traveled and the Built Environment: Evidence from Vehicle Safety Inspection Data

By Mi Diao and Joseph Ferreira, Jr.

This study examines the linkage between household vehicle usage and their residential locations within a metropolitan area using a newly available administrative dataset of annual private passenger vehicle safety inspection records (with odometer readings) and spatially detailed data on the built environment. Vehicle miles travelled (VMT) and a set of comprehensive built-environment measures are computed for a statewide 250m*250m grid cell layer using advanced Geographic Information Systems and database management tools. We apply factor analysis to construct five factors that differentiate the built-environment characteristics of the grid cells and then integrate the built-environment factors into spatial regression models of household vehicle usage that account for built environment, demographics, and spatial interactions. The empirical results suggest that built-environment factors not only play an important role in explaining the intra-urban variation of household vehicle usage, but may also be underestimated by previous studies that use more aggregate built-environment measures. One standard deviation variations in the built-environment factors are associated with as much as 5,000 mile differences in annual VMT per-household. This study also demonstrates the potential value of new georeferenced administrative datasets in developing indicators that can assist urban planning and urban management.

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more about urban travel behavior:

Residential Self-Selection and Its Effects on Urban Commute Travels in Iranian Cities Compared to US, UK, and Germany

MODELING THE TRAVEL BEHAVIOR IMPACTS OF MICRO-SCALE LAND USE AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC FACTORS

Determinants of Automobile Use: A Comparison of Germany and the U.S.

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

Mobility biographies. A new perspective for understanding travel behaviour

Residential self-selection and travel: The relationship between travel-related attitudes, built environment characteristics and travel behaviour

Dynamic GPS-position correction for mobile pedestrian navigation and orientation

URBAN SPRAWL IN MID-SIZED CITIES OF MENA, EVIDENCE FROM YAZD AND KASHAN IN CENTRAL IRAN

By Houshmand E. MASOUMI

Urban sprawl is a well-researched topic and its negative effects on transportation, environment and social interactions are shown in many studies. However the related literature mainly comes from developed countries, and the developing countries, particularly those located in the Middle East and North Africa have a small part. This paper investigates the presence of urban sprawl in the urban developments in the periphery of the mid-sized and small large cities of central Iran. Yazd and Kashan are taken as case-study cities. The observation criteria are based on the urban sprawl definitions that are accepted and widely used. The four measures that are observed in case of these two cities are discrepancy between urban growth rate and population increase, decrease in population density, leapfrog and scattered developments, and lack of public open spaces. The findings of the study show that urban sprawl is seen in the urban development pattern of both cities. This sprawl partially started in 1970s and increased dramatically after 1980. The paper argues about the necessity of more in-depth studies about presence and morphology of urban sprawl in mid- sized and small large cities of Iran and other countries of the Middle East and North Africa.

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more about urban sprawl and land use change in Iran:

URBAN SPRAWL AND CLIMATIC CHANGES IN TEHRAN

URBAN SPRAWL IN IRANIAN CITIES AND ITS DIFFERENCES WITH THE WESTERN SPRAWL

A new approach to the Iranian urban planning, using neo-traditional development

The Study of Land Use Changes in the Tehran Metropolitan Area by Using MOLAND Model

A THEORETICAL APPROACH TO CAPABILITIES OF THE TRADITIONAL URBAN FORM IN PROMOTING SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORTATION

by Houshmand E. Masoumi

Influenced by the early to mid-twentieth century modernization, the Iranian cities experienced urban transformations that laid extensive effects on the social and physical human activities that have remained until today. Mobility is one of such issues that are broadly under the influence of the transformed urban form. This paper claims that the new Iranian urban planning encourages the city dwellers to drive personal cars because the neighborhoods and their centers lost importance after the urban form modernization efforts in 1930-1960. Neighborhoods with districts centers used to be basic elements of the traditional Iranian urban form. This study indicates the capabilities of the small-scale traditional urban forms like neighborhood arrangement in solving modern mobility problems. The theoretical approach that this study discusses over is that strengthening neighborhoods and Neighborhood Unit Centers (NUCs) can promote sustainable transportation, namely pedestrian travels. As a result the urban travels will be shortened and localized. The dominant view of automobile-oriented planning is needed to be replaced by a more humanist strategy, such as neighborhood-oriented planning. This ideology uses the neighborhoods to enhance sustainable mobility. To test this hypothesis, micro-scale and city-scale quantitative and empirical observations are suggested to prove the capacities of neighborhoods and their centrality in making the city-level travels more sustainable and decrease traffic congestion.

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mroe about urban planning in Iran:

URBAN SPRAWL AND CLIMATIC CHANGES IN TEHRAN

Residential Self-Selection and Its Effects on Urban Commute Travels in Iranian Cities Compared to US, UK, and Germany

MODELING THE TRAVEL BEHAVIOR IMPACTS OF MICRO-SCALE LAND USE AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC FACTORS

Impact Assessment of Sustainable Public Transportation System on Quality of Life in Tehran

URBAN SPRAWL IN IRANIAN CITIES AND ITS DIFFERENCES WITH THE WESTERN SPRAWL

A new approach to the Iranian urban planning, using neo-traditional development

The Study of Land Use Changes in the Tehran Metropolitan Area by Using MOLAND Model

Distribution and Determining of Urban Sprawl in Kerman with Emphasis on Kariz Water System

URBAN PATTERNS FOR A GREEN ECONOMY: LEVERAGING DENSITY

URBAN SPRAWL AND CLIMATIC CHANGES IN TEHRAN

by Gh. R. Roshan, S. Zanganeh Shahraki, D. Sauri, R. Borna

Urban sprawl beginning in the developed countries around 1950 is currently experienced in almost all countries. Many studies on the effects of urban sprawl indicate the emergence of harmful effects of this phenomenon. One of the most important environmental effects is the changes in climate. The purpose of this research was to identify the relation between urban sprawl components of Tehran with changes in climate variables. To this end, two data sets have been used to study the relation between these elements and components. The first data set included climatic elements such as rainfall, temperature, the percent of relative humidity and the percent of calm wind, as well as its mean speed for a period of 54 years (1953-2006). The second set of data was formed by components relevant to urban sprawl such as city area, private cars per capita, population density and number of urban population. Pearson correlation and multiple regression methods have been applied to compare and identify the relation between climatic components with urban sprawl indices. Results of correlation indicate that among the 5 aforementioned climatic components, annual rainfall and the mean of wind speed do not appear to have significant relation with sprawl, but the oscillations in percent of relative humidity and percent of calm wind seem to have a significant relation with Tehran sprawl. Consequently and using multivariate regression, it was concluded that the most important factor in the increasing temperature of Tehran, is the number of cars; the most important factor in increasing the percent of relative humidity is the area of Tehran, whereas the increase of the percent of calm wind may be attributed to the increase of population.

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more about Tehran:

Residential Self-Selection and Its Effects on Urban Commute Travels in Iranian Cities Compared to US, UK, and Germany

A GEOGRAPHICAL STUDY OF KARAJ : A SATELLITE CITY IN THE URBAN REGION OF TEHRAN

The Study of Land Use Changes in the Tehran Metropolitan Area by Using MOLAND Model

Facilitating Urban Management Through Local SDI Case Study: The Municipality of Tehran 

Development Guidelines for Disaster Risk Management in Tehran 

THE IDENTITY OF OPEN SPACE: ADAPTING FROM THE MODEL OF TRADITIONAL NEIGHBORHOOD CENTER

MODELING THE TRAVEL BEHAVIOR IMPACTS OF MICRO-SCALE LAND USE AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC FACTORS

Daytime urban heat island effect in high-rise and high-density residential developments in Hong Kong

by R. Giridharan, S. Ganesan, and S.S.Y. Lau

Nearly 60% of electrical energy use in Hong Kong is for space conditioning during summer months. The paper investigates the impact of design-related variables on outdoor micro level daytime heat island effect in residential developments in HongKong. The paper hypothesizes that the differences in outdoor temperatures within and between residential developments can be explained by the impact of design-related variables on the overall environment. Case studies of three large housing estates reveal urban heat island effect (UHI) in the order of 1.5 ◦C within an estate, and 1.0 ◦C between estates. The results indicate that energy efficient designs can be achieved by manipulating surface albedo, sky view factor and total height to floor area ratio (building massing) while maximizing cross ventilation.

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similar papers:

MITIGATING URBAN HEAT ISLAND EFFECT BY URBAN DESIGN: FORMS AND MATERIALS

Low Carbon City Development Guidance [Outline]

Urbanism in the Age of Climate Change

Urban Resilience: Research Prospectus, A Resilience Alliance Initiative for Transitioning Urban Systems towards Sustainable Futures

MITIGATING URBAN HEAT ISLAND EFFECT BY URBAN DESIGN: FORMS AND MATERIALS

by Julien Bouyer, Marjorie Musy, Yuan Huang, and Khaled Athamena

This paper gives a synthesis of four complementary research works that are contributing to the same objective: proposing solutions to reduce the buildings’ energy consumption by the way of modifying the local climate. The first one focuses on one parameter of direct relevance to urban heat island phenomenon: the surface albedo. The albedo of a city or a district depends on surfaces’ arrangement, materials used for roofs, paving, coatings, etc., and solar position. The second one proposes a simulation tool that permits to evaluate the impact outdoor urban environment on buildings’ energy consumption. The third work explores urban forms: it proposes methods to describe them and analyze the climatic performances of classified urban forms. This analyze permits us to propose morphology indicators that permits to compare the relative efficiencies of different typologies. The last work concludes about the relevance of using indicators (based on physics or morphology, related to site or to built form) in urban design process and proposes a methodology to produce indicators.

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papers about climate change:

Sustainable Transport and Climate Change: Environmentally Experiences and lessons from community initiatives

Asian cities at highest risk to climate change, study says

Tackling Urban Sprawl: New Urbanism and Eco-Towns

Urbanization and Natural Disasters in the Mediterranean Population Growth and Climate Change in the 21st Century Case Studies on Izmit, Algiers and Alexandria

Studying the effects of urban sprawl of metropolis on tourism - climate index oscillation: A case study of Tehran city

Research on Factors Relating to Density and Climate Change