Land Use and TransportationExploring the Connections

Matti Siemiatycki, University of TorontoMargaret Wittgens, TransLink

Presentation Overview

1. Introduction to transportation and land use interactions

2. Present contemporary experience: From the nation to the neighbourhood

3. Planning processes to link transportation and land use in Canada

4. TransLink Case Study: Scale/types of projects5. Take home message

Why is there such recent interest in transportation?

Transportation and Land Use

‘transport shapes city development but city form then shapes travel choices’

(Colin Clark, 1957)

• Mode influences travel behaviour

• Available modes influence development patterns

Transportation and City Form: A Historical Perspective

The International Experience

Transportation and Land Use: Urban Density

Proportion of workers using public transit to get to work, selected metropolitan areas, 2006

Transportation and Land Use: Efficacy of Public Transit

Transportation and Land Use: Emissions by Transport Sector

Transportation and Land Use: Urban Wealth

Population Density: Occupied Dwellings Per Kilometre in Canadian Cities (2006)

Relationship between density and car commuting in Canada’s largest cities

Occupied Dwellings per Square Kilometre

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f Trip

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Relationship between density and car commuting in Canada’s Medium Sized Cities

Relationship between Density and Sustainability of total Transportation System and Policy

Occupied Dwellings per Kilometre

Rank

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dex

Source: GreenApple Canada, 2007; Statistics Canada

Relationship between income and car commuting in Canada’s largest cities

Median Individual Income

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car

Source: Stats Can, 2006

The Regional Scale: The Canadian Urban Experience

Median commuting distance (in kilometres) travelled by workers in census metropolitan areas by period of construction of dwelling of residence, Canada, 2006

Commuting Distances

Commuting by Sustainable Travel Modes: an Issue of Equity and the Environment

Job Sites

Greenhouse Gas Emissions: A Toronto Example (2007)

(Source: VandeWeghe and Kennedy, 2007)

Greenhouse Gas Emissions: All Residential Buildings (2007)

(Source: VandeWeghe and Kennedy, 2007)

Greenhouse Gas Emissions: All Passenger Transportation (2007)

(Source: VandeWeghe and Kennedy, 2007)

Greenhouse Gas Emissions: All Residential Emissions (2007)

(Source: VandeWeghe and Kennedy, 2007)

Transportation and Land Use at the Neighbourhood Scale

Transportation and Land Use: The Health Connection

• Land use patterns and transportation influence our health

• Car usage and suburban land pattern which encourages car usage has been linked with obesity related diseases

• Non-motorized and public transit encourage more physical activity, and have been linked to improved health• More likely to occur in higher

density areas

Transportation and Land Use: A not so obvious connection

• Transportation shapes land use, and individual travel decisions are also shaped by land uses

• Empirical studies have had a difficult time demonstrating universal linkages between transportation investments and land use change– Difficulty demonstrating cause

and effect– Conflicting evidence, or

disagreement on direction of impact

– Difficulty in generalising results or conclusions

Transportation and Land Use: A not so obvious connection

Responsibility for Transportation/Land Use Planning: A lack of integration

• Major highways: province• Public transit: varies by city (city council; city

crown company; regional authority; provincial agency)

• Land Use Planning and Approvals: municipalities

• Strategic land use planning (green zones/agricultural land reserves, etc): province