Connections between Land Use and Driving Distance: Causal Investigation Using Directed Acyclic Graphs
Publication: Journal of Urban Planning and Development
Volume 140, Issue 3
Abstract
This paper examines the causal connections between land use and household driving distance in the Houston-Galveston metropolitan area by introducing the directed acyclic graphs. It is found that population density and roadway design measure have direct causal relationships with total household driving distance. In terms of elasticity estimates of driving distance with respect to land-use measures, the impacts of land use on household driving distance are found to be overrated in the conventional regression analyses compared with the results based on the directed acyclic graphs. Urban development and design strategies can play a significant role in reducing household driving distance, which then helps moderate air pollution and climate change.
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Acknowledgments
The authors are thankful to Mr. Charlie Hall of the Texas Department of Transportation and to Dr. Jo Zietsman, Dr. David Pearson, and Mr. Edwin Hard of the Texas A&M Transportation Institute. We thank Dr. Ming-Han Li of Texas A&M University and the anonymous reviewers for providing helpful comments.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Urban Planning and Development
Volume 140 • Issue 3 • September 2014
Copyright
© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jul 20, 2012
Accepted: Dec 10, 2013
Published online: Jan 14, 2014
Discussion open until: Jun 14, 2014
Published in print: Sep 1, 2014
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