How dense are we? Another look at urban density and transport ...

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How dense are we?How dense are we? Another look at urban density and transport patterns in Australia, Canadaand the USAPaul MeesSchool of Global Studies, Social Science & PlanningRMITGPO Box 2476VMelbourne 3001.paul.mees@rmit.edu.auword count: 4710Running head:How dense are we?Keywords:Density, urban form, transport, public transport, sustainability, climate change.
How dense are we?AbstractFor at least two decades, urban policy in Australia has been based on the belief that highlevels of car use and poor public transport are mainly the result of low urban densities. Therehas been considerable debate about the evidence on which these policies are based, but untilrecently there has been no common data-set that allows densities and transport patterns to becompared on a consistent and rigorous basis. As a result of recent changes to data collectionand publication systems by the Australian, Canadian and United States national censusagencies, it is now possible to compare urban densities and transport mode shares (for thejourney to work) across the three countries’ urban areas on a consistent basis. This paperpresents the results of this comparison. Australian cities have similar densities to those ofCanadian cities and the more densely-populated US cities. There are variations in densityamong cities, but these show little or no relationship to transport modes share, which seemsmore closely related to different transport policies. These findings are very different fromthose on which current urban policies are based, and suggest the need for a radical rethinkingof those policies.
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How dense are we? Another look at urban density and transport ...

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