The impact of urban development patterns on travel behaviour: Lessons learned from a British metropolitan region using macro-analysis and micro-analysis in addressing the sustainability agenda

The objective of this paper is to gain a clearer understanding of the strategic relationship between a series of studies addressing the sustainability agenda. The analysis uses qualitative and quantitative data derived from two studies: the regional (macro) integrated transport and land-use model data and the micro-analysis of ten selected neighbourhoods, both of which have taken place in the North East of England. The interview with local authorities demonstrated that, despite the sustainability agenda being high on their list, there are issues with embracing social, economic and environmental aspects in equal manner, relating to transport. The macro-analysis shows that different land-use scenarios influence only a small part of travel behaviour. The main argument was that the changes in land-uses and transport provision are relatively marginal, compared to the existing development. The micro-study, on the other hand, demonstrated that it is the attitudes of citizens, rather than the neighbourhood characteristics, which play the bigger role in influencing the patterns of car travel, thus suggesting that future policy work on attitudes may have a bigger impact in influencing travel behaviour.