TITLE:
Human Dimensions Approach towards Integrating Sustainable Transportation and Urban Planning Policies: A Decision Support System (DSS) Based on Stated Preferences Data
AUTHORS:
Wolfgang Rid
KEYWORDS:
Integrated Land Use and Transportation Planning, Discrete Choice Modelling, Decision Support System (DSS), Behavioral Economics and Choice
JOURNAL NAME:
Theoretical Economics Letters,
Vol.7 No.4,
June
14,
2017
ABSTRACT: While a lot of progress has been made in Germany to
reduce CO2 emissions
in the past years in almost all sectors of economy, however, the sector of transportation
shows increasing CO2 emissions in the same period of time. Likewise,
sustainability objectives of German land use policies have not been met so far,
especially with regard of the continuously high rate of greenfield land used up
for new housing development. In this paper, it is argued that environmental
issues of both sectors have to be addressed by integrating urban housing
development and
transportation infrastructure planning policies. The paper reports on a stated
preferences survey among house buyers in Germany, using a discrete choice
approach, where parameters of sustainable urban design and sustainable
transport are both integrated into one model. Building on concepts of
behavioral economics, preferences are elicited for sub-samples of different
“environmental awareness”. Results show differences in tastes for higher
building densities to reduce land consumption as well as differences in tastes
for transport infrastructure development and frequency of public transport
parameters. In addition, a decision support system is developed to analyze the
impact of individual parameters on choosing one alternative over the other.
Form this, conclusions on potential market shares for sustainable housing and
transport development are drawn and recommendations are given to implement integrated urban design and transportation
infrastructure policies.