Abstract

Concerns over rising fuel consumption have prompted research into the influences of built environments on travel behavior. On the basis of data from origin-destination(OD) travel survey data of Mashhad (74287 trip data in 2011) and using Geographically Weighted Regression, socio-demographic characteristics, are shown to be strongly and positively associated with the fuel consumption per capita (car ownership elasticity=0.347878); we also found a positive association between distance to center and designs that are not pedestrian friendly with fuel consumption (average block size=0.147489, distance to center =0.334953) Although the study demonstrates a moderately strong negative elasticity between population density and the fuel consumption(population density = -0.259335). It suggests that the largest energy consumption reductions would come from creating compact communities which have land-use diversity and more walkable areas with pedestrian cycling infrastructure around all of the stations along transit lines.

In order to enhance a sustainable urban plan, the socio-economic driving factors should be considered as one of the main element of energy consumption as well.

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