Mapping the relationship between transport energy consumption and urban form characteristics for the Greater Dublin Area

Abstract

Energy consumption and emissions from the transport sector continue to rise, adding to growing concerns about the environmental impacts caused by transport systems and related land-use patterns. Transportation and land-use are a function of one another, therefore it is often hypothesized that changing urban form will result in changes in transport energy consumption. This paper intends to explore further the relationship between urban form and transport energy consumption. It is hypothesised in this research that more compact neighbourhoods result in more sustainable communities, with lower transport energy consumption. The theory is to an extent premised on urban containment, to provide a concentration of socially sustainable mixed uses, that will concentrate development and reduce the need to travel, thus reducing transport energy consumption. Using the Census of Population of Ireland 2006Place of Work -Census of Anonymised Records (POW-CAR) Dataset it is intended to examine urban form factors in terms of their influence on journey to work energy consumption. To examine the hypothesis, the transport energy consumption of different urban forms will be found, thus allowing the most sustainable urban forms in the Greater Dublin Area to be identified. The results of this research can then be used to assess the transport energy consumption of future development plans and therefore allow greater transport sustainability to be achieved through improved design of the location and form of major new development.

Spatial-modal scenarios of greenhouse gas emissions from commuting in Hong Kong

“…A thorough examination of the possible travel pattern scenarios is crucial for planners to produce sustainable urban structures. Many existing studies in this field have focused on examining the existing urban structure and its associated travel patterns (Bento et al, 2002;Carty and Ahern, 2010;Schwanen et al, 2001). Some studies tried to forecast emissions changes with simulations on the factors of traffic demands (e.g., population, car ownership) and technological changes (e.g., greener fuels) in a static city environment (Das and Parikh, 2004;Khanna et al, 2011, Liu et al, 2015Ma et al, 2014).…”

Editorial: Mapping the Impacts of Transport

“…Killer and Axhausen (2010) discuss methods of mapping and delineating commuting areas of work travel. Papers producing outputs that can be used to guide future development planning decisions include those by Carty and Ahern (2010) who map the transport energy consumption of districts in the Greater Dublin area, allowing the identification of the most sustainable urban forms, and Hickford and Cherrett (2010) who used mapping and routing software to derive optimal locations of recycling sites to reduce annual mileage.…”

Simulated impacts of 3D urban morphology on urban transportation in megacities: case study in Beijing

“…One of the key points is to reveal the relationships between urban morphology and urban transportation. Using the Census Data of Ireland 2006 and the Place of Work Á Census of Anonymised Records datasets, Carty and Ahern (2010) intended to examine urban morphology factors in terms of their influence on a journey to work's energy consumption. To examine the hypothesis, the transport energy consumption of different urban morphologies was found, thus allowing the most sustainable urban morphologies in the Greater Dublin Area to be identified.…”