Jonas De Vos
Frank Witlox
 Geography Department, Ghent University, Krijgslaan 281 S8, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium
 
 
 Highlights

•Low-cost travel has resulted in long-distance travel and urban sprawl.
•Infrastructure and public transportation should be clustered in and between large cities.
•Increasing travel costs stimulates compact, mixed-use developments.


Keywords
Travel behaviour;Land use; Residential location choice; Transit-oriented development; Road pricing; Flanders


Abstract
Travel can affect land use just as land use affects travel behaviour of people. Low-cost travel, especially resulting from transportation improvements since the nineteenth century, has resulted in long-distance travel and urban sprawl, bringing along negative aspects such as traffic congestion and air pollution, but also reductions in biodiversity and public health. In order to try to partly reverse this process, the supply of infrastructure and public transportation can no longer follow the demand of transportation; the supply has to steer the demand. Infrastructure and high-quality public transportation should be clustered in and between large and regional cities. Increasing travel costs for car use (e.g., road pricing) can positively affect travel distances and travel mode choice, but also long-term decisions such as the residential location choice, stimulating compact, mixed-use developments. In this paper, we focus on Flanders, Belgium, a region where mobility policies stimulated long-distance travel and limited land use regulations did not hinder urban sprawl. Increasing travel costs combined with a more active spatial planning policy and a stronger cooperation between mobility policy and spatial planning can help to decrease car use and urban sprawl, but also change the way in which people perceive travel.



Article Outline
1. Introduction
2. The effects of travel behaviour on land use pattern
3. Influence of the built environment on travel behaviour
4. The case of Flanders
4.1. Transportation improvements shaping the Flemish land use pattern
4.2. The effect of the Flemish land use on travel behaviour
4.2.1. Travel mode choice and travel distances in Flanders


5. Restricting urban sprawl and car use
5.1. Towards a more ‘active’ spatial planning policy
5.2. A stronger cooperation between mobility policy and spatial planning
5.3. Increasing travel costs

6. Value of travel
7. Conclusion
References


Figures
   

Fig. 1.

Built-up space (indicated in red) of the Flemish Region in 2010.


Fig. 2.

Travel mode choice within different types of residential municipality.


Fig. 3.

Percentage of trips within the range of 1, 3 and 5 km within different types of residential municipality.




Tables

Table 1. Modal split and population density in major cities of seven world regions.

Table 2. Socio-economic factors, distance to public transportation and average population density in different residential locations.a