The purpose of the research program "Transportation and Urban Planning" is to increase our knowledge about the influence of urban structural variables on traveling distances, modal split and the energy use for transportation in a Danish context. The program focuses on the location and structure of residential areas within a city as well as on the pattern of development on a regional level. The influence on traveling from, among others, the following urban structural variables will be investigated: population density for the city as a whole and within local areas of the city, the location of residences relative to the urban center, the provision of local service and public transport facilities near the residence, parking conditions in the residential area, availability of green areas near the residence, and the structure of the local road and path system. The regional-level study will also compare the transportation patterns of people living in urban and rural areas, and residents of central and peripheral parts of the region.
The investigations include travel surveys within relevant Danish cities and regions as well as case-studies of a limited number of households living in different geographical areas. In order not to make erroneous inferences about the influence of the physical/structural conditions on people's transport activity, also a number of socioeconomic and lifestyle-related control variables will be investigated. The research program includes detailed studies in three urban areas of different size (Frederikshavn, Aalborg and the Copenhagen area) and two investigations focusing on the pattern of development at a regional scale (a comparative study of the counties of Northern Jutland, Ringkøbing and Vejle, and a more in-depth study of Northern Jutland).
The program is financed by the Danish Transportation Council, with additional internal funding from Aalborg University. The research work started in 1998 and is due to be completed in 2002.
(Last update: February 2003)