Testing Newman and Kenworthy’s Theory of Density and Automobile Dependence

Reid Ewing; Shima Hamidi; Guang Tian; David Proffitt; Stefania Tonin; Laura Fregolent

doi:10.1177/0739456X16688767

Testing Newman and Kenworthy’s Theory of Density and Automobile Dependence

Reid Ewing, Shima Hamidi, Guang Tian, David Proffitt, Stefania Tonin, Laura Fregolent

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

20 Scopus citations

Abstract

This study tests four hypotheses related to the much-cited work on density and automobile dependence by Newman and Kenworthy, using multivariate analysis and data for 157 large US urbanized areas. We find that density alone explains only a small fraction of the variation in vehicle miles traveled (VMT), and many confounders account for the differences in automobile dependence. We also find that it is not the localized density of individual neighborhoods that causes VMT to be lower in compact urbanized areas but rather the relative accessibility of neighborhoods to the rest of the region.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	167-182
Number of pages	16
Journal	Journal of Planning Education and Research
Volume	38
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/0739456X16688767
State	Published - Jun 1 2018
Externally published	Yes

Keywords

VMT
auto dependence
density
sprawl index

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Geography, Planning and Development
Development
Urban Studies

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10.1177/0739456X16688767

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title = "Testing Newman and Kenworthy{\textquoteright}s Theory of Density and Automobile Dependence",

abstract = "This study tests four hypotheses related to the much-cited work on density and automobile dependence by Newman and Kenworthy, using multivariate analysis and data for 157 large US urbanized areas. We find that density alone explains only a small fraction of the variation in vehicle miles traveled (VMT), and many confounders account for the differences in automobile dependence. We also find that it is not the localized density of individual neighborhoods that causes VMT to be lower in compact urbanized areas but rather the relative accessibility of neighborhoods to the rest of the region.",

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author = "Reid Ewing and Shima Hamidi and Guang Tian and David Proffitt and Stefania Tonin and Laura Fregolent",

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AU - Ewing, Reid

AU - Hamidi, Shima

AU - Tian, Guang

AU - Proffitt, David

AU - Tonin, Stefania

AU - Fregolent, Laura

PY - 2018/6/1

Y1 - 2018/6/1

N2 - This study tests four hypotheses related to the much-cited work on density and automobile dependence by Newman and Kenworthy, using multivariate analysis and data for 157 large US urbanized areas. We find that density alone explains only a small fraction of the variation in vehicle miles traveled (VMT), and many confounders account for the differences in automobile dependence. We also find that it is not the localized density of individual neighborhoods that causes VMT to be lower in compact urbanized areas but rather the relative accessibility of neighborhoods to the rest of the region.

AB - This study tests four hypotheses related to the much-cited work on density and automobile dependence by Newman and Kenworthy, using multivariate analysis and data for 157 large US urbanized areas. We find that density alone explains only a small fraction of the variation in vehicle miles traveled (VMT), and many confounders account for the differences in automobile dependence. We also find that it is not the localized density of individual neighborhoods that causes VMT to be lower in compact urbanized areas but rather the relative accessibility of neighborhoods to the rest of the region.

KW - VMT

KW - auto dependence

KW - density

KW - sprawl index

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Testing Newman and Kenworthy’s Theory of Density and Automobile Dependence

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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