The Kyoto Protocol and Sustainable Cities: Potential Use of Clean-Development Mechanism in Structuring Cities for Carbon-Efficient Transportation

This paper assesses the possibility for changing urban development patterns to reduce transportation greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The analysis was carried out as part of a larger project exploring the possibility of using the clean development mechanism (CDM) to reduce transportation GHG emissions in Santiago, Chile. The paper provides an overview of the analytical approach, which includes an integrated travel demand model with sensitivity to mesolevel land use variations, a method to generate optimal land use scenarios that relate to emission reductions, and a process to estimate the level of subsidies needed to produce those land use scenarios. Limitations to the approach and suggestions for future research are discussed. The paper concludes with an assessment of the results in the face of the fairly strict requirements for project development and implementation implied by the CDM.