Urban Form and Greenhouse Gas Reductions

An Assessment of Urban Form and Pedestrian and Transit Improvements as an Integrated GHG Reduction Strategy (117 page pdf, Dr. Lawrence D. Frank, Michael J. Greenwald, Sarah Kavage, Andrew Devlin, Washington State Department of Transportation, Apr. 1, 2011)

Also discussed here: VMT Spreadsheet (Excel spreadsheet estimate of GHG emissions of simple land use projects or plans)

And here: How Can Large Cities Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions (Pollution Free Cities, Jun. 9, 2011)

Today’s article under review looks at transportation demand management in and around Seattle, Washington as a way of reducing greenhouse gases, given that the biggest contributer is cars and trucks (as in other cities with little industry, such as Ottawa, Canada). The report found that parking rates, sidewalk width and transit availability (in that order) had the closest link to the use of cars (as measured by VMT) and CO2 emissions.



Key Quotes:

“to test the effect of sidewalks on travel patterns and ..to relate sidewalk availability with VMT and GHG emissions”

“[in the state of Washington] the transportation sector currently accounts for approximately 45% of total GHG emissions, with 73% of these emissions resulting from passenger cars and trucks fueled by gasoline and diesel. By 2020, statewide transportation emissions are anticipated to account for nearly 57% of total emissions..”

“At the local level, the City of Seattle Climate Protection Initiative aims to reduce citywide greenhouse gases by 80% below 1990 levels by 2050”

“Increasing sidewalk coverage from.. 30 percent of all streets to..70 percent of all streets was estimated to result in a 3.4 percent decrease in VMT and a 4.9 percent decrease in CO2”

“Parking cost had the strongest associations with both VMT and CO2. An increase in parking charges from approximately $0.28 per hour to $1.19 per hour ..resulted in a 11.5 percent decrease in VMT and a 9.9 percent decrease in CO2”

“ developed and tested a simple spreadsheet tool.. to estimate the potential reduction in CO2 and VMT due to urban form, sidewalk coverage, transit service and travel cost changes… where scenario analysis or impact assessment is appropriate – for example, comprehensive or neighborhood planning, transit-oriented development, or transit corridor planning”

“Statistical model results demonstrate that travel pricing and demand management strategies yield consistently large and significant influence on VMT and CO2 generation”

Related articles

• Country By Country Analysis Of Years Left Until Science-demanded Zero Greenhouse Gas Emissions (chimalaya.org)
• Does Better Urban Design Beat Better Car Design when it comes to Emissions? (pollutionfree.wordpress.com)
• Changing Consumer Behaviour to Reach Climate Change Goals (pollutionfree.wordpress.com)