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Topic 1 - Transportation and Urban Form.

Compiled by:

ENC211-0024/2017

Kimani Derrick Thuku (No. 24)

JKUAT

ECE 2521: Transportation, Land Use, Urban and Regional Planning

Mr. Rono

29/9/22

Group Number 15

ENC211-0187/2017 - Job Emmanuel Kihiu Muniu (No. 99)

ENC211-0035/2017 - Alex Kibuga Mugo (No. 6)

ENC211-0021/2017 - Kenei Ronny Kiptisia (No. 8)

ENC211-0340/2019 - John Kipkebut (No. 107)

ENC211-0024/2017 - Kimani Derrick Thuku (No. 24)

ENC 211-0062/2017 - Oula Isaac Malit (No. 52)

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Transportation and Land Use Interactions

Definition of Transportation and Land Use Interactions

The structure, capacity, and connection of the transportation infrastructure, which varies, have an impact on

accessibility. Because accessibility varies, this characteristic affects how land is used, including where new

activities are located and whether they are expanded or densified. The distribution of activities and the level of

transportation demand will be impacted by these changes. The development, upkeep, and improvement of

transportation services and infrastructure, such as highways and public transit, will be influenced by this change

in demand. Once more, these modifications will affect accessibility in a fresh cycle of interactions. The relative

accessibility of various locations might change as a result of changes in transportation technology, investment,

and service characteristics.

Land use factors, such as zoning patterns and restrictions, the availability of land, public utilities, and

telecommunications infrastructure, have an impact on activity patterns as well. Shifts in trip generation, both for

passengers and freight, that are impacted by economic and demographic changes are particularly significant.

Undoubtedly, increasing wages as well as population growth are driving forces behind increased transportation

demand. Trip patterns can alter in a variety of ways, including in terms of frequency, timing, origin, destination,

mode, and trip chaining. The creation of new transportation infrastructure or services is greatly impacted by these

changes in travel demand. As a result, the interactions between transportation and land use are frequently referred

to as a "chicken-and-egg" conundrum since it is difficult to prove empirically whether changes in transportation

occur before changes in land use, or vice versa.

Urban Growth Assessment

Urban growth indicates rapid increasing in urban population, city significance level and economic expansion.

Urban growth assessment is necessary for urban spatial analysis study and future urban growth planning. It is very

beneficial to local governments and urban planners in order to inform plans on sustainable development for the

future. Both the present and historical information is mandatory when carrying out urban growth assessment.
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Urban growth increases with change in urban sprawls due to uncontrolled population growth and construction of

infrastructure in agricultural and vegetation lands. Change in urban sprawls with the passing of time gives an

urban sprawl pattern. Urban sprawls are mainly done using geospatial and temporal imagery mostly utilizing

images from satellites. Patterns of urban sprawl over separate time periods can be systematically observed,

mapped and accurately evaluated from satellite data.

There are other various indicators that indicate urban growth and can therefore be used to assess it. These

parameters include the following among many others:

 Population growth and projections.

 Economic participation e.g. employment.

 Transport (Journeys to work and school, transport volumes, e.t.c.)

 Cultural vitality e.g. Involvement in sports and cultural events.

 Social capital.

 Safety of local community e.g. assessing the change in crime rates.

Changes in urban sprawl and the population as indicated can be assessed using formulas and computer

programs and urban growth assessment henceforth conducted. Factors such as urban population growth also

comprise an important are of urban growth assessment.

Relationship between Land Use and Transportation Planning

For short-term analyses between 3-5 years, transportation planners can usually take the current activity or

land-use system. In such cases, an inventory of the current land-use activity system for an area is adequate to

identify the number of trips generated, or attracted to, in the area. In the end, however, the urban land-use activity

system clearly does change. Neighborhoods gain or lose population or employment of various types. New areas

may develop while older developed areas may decline in quality, or undergo redevelopment as a result travel

demand patterns and transportation system requirements will change. Land Use and Urban Design long-range

transportation planning must explicitly consider expected changes in the urban activity system in order to predict

future travel demand. The period for forecasting land-use change varies by the type of planning study.
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Comprehensive planning usually considers “build-out” horizon years often in the 30-50 year time horizon

and applied area-wide the long-range transportation planning process often uses a 20-year time horizon and

applied at the metropolitan or citywide levels. Project planning for the National Environmental Policy project

development process uses horizon years of 20 to 25 years and often done at the corridor or site level. Air quality

conformity/programming focuses on horizon years of 6 to 20 years and occurs usually at the air basin or regional

level. The time-frame for site impact studies and the associated traffic impact analysis will vary depending on

local regulations and rules.

Transportation and Urban Planning Process

Urban planning concerns itself with both the development of open land and therevitalization of existing

parts of the city. Increasingly, the technology of geographic information systems (GIS) has been used to map the

existing urban system and to project the consequences of changes.

Transportation planning is the process of looking at the current state of transportation in the region,

designing for future transportation needs, and combining all of that with the elements of budgets, goals and

policies. It helps shape how a community or city grows by evaluating everything from streets and highways to

cargo ships to public transit and bike lanes. It can influence everything from business to recreation to quality of

life.

Both transportation and urban planning are essential for sustainable development and ensuring safe

accessibility at various levels for all individuals. Sustainability refers to development that meets the needs of the

present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

The planning process:

1. Visions, goals and objectives

2. Existing and future conditions

3. Needs assessment

4. Develop strategies

5. Project selection and prioritization

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6. Project funding and implementation

7. System performance monitoring

Causes of Urbanization

 Industrialization

This is a representation of the shift from the old agricultural practices to a non-agricultural economy thus
creating modernized societies. Such industrial revolution has attracted people to move from rural to urban areas to
seek for employment opportunities.

 Commercialization

Commerce and trade involve the distribution of goods and services and commercial transactions. These have
resulted to modern marketing centers and exchange methods which enormously grows urban centers. Generally,
commercialization is perceived to thrive exemplarily well in towns and cities than rural areas.

 Social benefits and services

There are many social benefits including better living standards, better education levels, better housing and
sanitation, better recreation and better healthcare that are accredited to urban areas. Thus more and more people
are compelled to migrate into towns and cities to procure them.

 Employment opportunities

There are numerous job opportunities in urban areas that continually attract people from rural regions, who
hope to find better livelihoods elsewhere. Therefore, many rural to urban migrations or international migrations
are frequently made in pursuit of well-paying jobs.

Urban Form, Urban planning, and Urban Spatial Structure

A city’s urban form is simply its physical characteristics. It is the spatial configuration of the city’s physical

elements. One feature of the urban form is the settlement type. The settlement type can be a central business

district, suburb, or market town. Every urban form has a unique street and housing type. A city’s urban form not

only describes its physical characteristics but also non-physical aspects such as population density (Dempsey et

al., 2008). Population density is the number of people living in the region per unit area. High-density housing

comprises flats and apartments whereas low-density housing comprises detached and semi-detached properties.
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Urban planning involves the enhancement of the population’s health, safety, and welfare in an urban setting.

Planning is essential due to the interconnected and complex relationship between urban area elements. For

example, if the urban planners decide that the center will comprise small family houses then the expected traffic

flow will be small whereas large family houses generate a larger traffic flow (Mefsin, 2022). Furthermore, the

choice of use of impermeable pavement materials in road construction would lead to high flood flows in the lower

altitude areas of the urban center. Such decisions need careful consideration.

The four main types of urban spatial structure are the completely motorized, weak center, strong center, and

traffic limitation. An urban center is completely motorized when the majority of its land use is transportation

infrastructure such as highways and streets. In this category, the population density is low. Weak centers have a

central business district but most economic activities are located along corridors (Transport Geography, 2021).

Strong centres have a high land use density and easily accessible transit systems. Traffic limitation areas

adequately implement traffic control which could be aimed at reducing congestion within the central business

district.

Evolution of Transportation and Urban Form

Historically, walking was the main movement within cities and this made urban mobility time consuming

and inefficient. The evolution in transportation has led to urban form changes. The polycentric form, a change

associated with new patterns of mobility, is now assumed by many cities. Once the primary destination of

commuters, the Central Business District (CBD) has been transformed by new management, manufacturing and

retailing services. Whereas traditional manufacturing required centralized workplaces, technological and

transportation developments have led to a more flexible industry.

Development of suburbs and the emergence of important sub-centers due to establishments of highways and

ring-roads have competed directly with CBDs in attracting economic activities. Consequently, many new job

creations have shifted here, and thus considerably modifying the activity system of cities.

Two processes have substantially impacted on the contemporary urban forms:

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1. Urban sprawl

Dispersed urban land development patterns were characterized by abundant land, low transportation costs

and economy dependent on tertiary activities. Such circumstances create a strong relationship between urban

density and car use. Cities having high dependency on automobiles have a faster growth rate than their

populations that result to declining densities. Moreover, commuting is cheaper than land costs, thus people buy

low-priced housing at the periphery of urban areas.

2. Decentralization of Activities

This resulted in two opposing effects. First, stable commuting time has prevailed. Second, commuting

distance tends to be longer and made privately using cars/automobiles than by public transit. Most transit and road

systems are thus developed to facilitate suburb-to-city commuting, rather than suburb-to-suburb. This has resulted

to suburban highways congested as often as urban highways.

Most people are willing to travel less than 30 minutes in one direction to get to work. Globally, people spend

1.2 hours per day commuting. Different transport technologies have different capacities and travel speeds

associated with them. This results to cities relying on non-motorized systems being more compact than

automobile dependent ones.

Finally, the evolution of urban form is path dependent, meaning that the current spatial structure is the

outcome of past developments.

Spatial Constraints of Urban Structure

Mobility and the quantity of urban land devoted to transportation are frequently associated. About 10% of

urban land was used for transportation in the pre-automobile era, which consisted mainly of routes used by

pedestrians. A rising portion of metropolitan areas were devoted to transportation and the infrastructures

supporting it as people and cargo mobility expanded. Between cities as well as inside cities, such as between

centre and periphery districts, there are significant differences in the spatial footprint of urban transportation. The

following are the main elements of urban transportation's spatial imprint:

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 Pedestrian areas. These refer to the amount of space devoted to walking. Often shared with roads as side-

walks, they account for 10-20% of the right of way.

 Roads and parking areas. These refer to the amount of parking space devoted to road transportation, both

moving and packed. 30% of the surface in motorized cities are allocated to roads, and another 20% for off-

street parking.

 Cycling areas. In many a disorganized forms, cycling usually shares the access given to pedestrian and road

space. However, attempts to create bicycle specific spaces in urban areas with reserved lanes and parking

areas have kick started, with the Netherlands having 27% of its total commuting area allocated to cycling.

 Transit systems. Most transit systems share road space with automobiles, thus impairing their efficiency.

Creation of road lanes reserved for buses permanently or temporarily have mitigated congestion. Further,

subways and rail possess their own infrastructure and thus their rights of way.

 Transport terminals. These refer to the amount of space allocated to terminal facilities e.g airports, rail yards,

transit stations, distribution centers and ports. Many major terminals are located in the peripheries of urban

areas where sufficient spaces are available for the ever increasing mobility of both people and goods.

In conclusion, each mode of transport has a unique performance feature and also a space consumption

property. In case of an automobile, it requires space to move around, while spending at least 98% of its lifetime

stationary in a parking lot. Accordingly, a significant space is required to accommodate the automobile when it is

not in motion, thus making it economically and socially useless. It is worth noting that close to all the parking

spaces in large urban areas are filled throughout the day. Further, some developed countries like the USA have

allocated more land to automobile than to housing. In developing nations roads account for about 10% as opposed

to that of 15-20% in developed regions.

Transportation and The Urban Structure

Urban transportation challenges are crucial to enable passenger mobility in significant urban agglomerations

since an increasing proportion of the world's population now resides in cities. Due to the various forms of

transportation, the large number of sources and destinations, and the volume and variety of traffic, urban
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transportation is extremely complex. As cities were seen as places of intense human contact with complex traffic

patterns connected to commuting, business transactions, and leisure/cultural activities, the focus of urban

transportation has historically been on passengers. Cities are, however, also sites of production, consumption, and

distribution, all of which are connected to the movement of freight. Conceptually, the relationship between the

urban transportation network, urban form, and spatial organization is complex. Urban transportation is a

significant aspect of mobility, especially in densely populated areas.

Urbanization results in more travels being made within cities. Cities have historically increased the

transportation supply by constructing new highways and transit lines in response to the growth in mobility. For

the most part, this has meant expanding the number of roadways to handle an increasing number of vehicles. As a

result, a variety of urban spatial configurations have developed, with the use of automobiles serving as the

primary differentiator. On a metropolitan scale, the following four main categories can be distinguished:

 Completely motorized network is Type I. representing a city dependent on automobiles with a small center

area and scattered activities.

 Weak Center, Type II. illustrating the spatial organization in which many activities are concentrated on the

edges.

 The Strong Center, Type III. representing densely populated areas with advanced public transportation.

 Traffic Limitation, Type IV. Representing urban regions with a spatial design that incorporates mode

preference and traffic control. Typically, public transportation takes up most of the central area.
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References

Giuliano, G. (1995) “Land Use Impacts of Transportation Investments: Highway and Transit”, in S. Hanson (ed)

The Geography of Urban Transportation, New York: The Guilford Press.

Cavailhès, J. C. Gaigné, T. Tabuchi, J-F Thisse (2006) “Trade and the structure of cities”, Journal of Urban

Economics, Vol. 62.

Transportation planning handbook, fourth edition, Institute of Transportation Engineers Michael D. Meyer

Dempsey, N., Brown, C., Raman, S., Porta, S., Jenks, M., Jones, C., & Bramley, G. (2008). Elements of urban

form. Future City, 21-51. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8647-2_2

Mefsin, F. (2022). What is urban planning. Academia.edu - Share research.

https://www.academia.edu/38737163/What_is_Urban_Planning

Transport Geography. (2021, May 15). Transportation and the urban spatial structure. The Geography of

Transport Systems | The spatial organization of transportation and mobility.

https://transportgeography.org/contents/chapter8/transportation-urban-form/transport-urban-spatial-

structure/