A Gravity Model Integrating Land-Use and Transportation Policies for Sustainable Development: Case Study of Fresno, California

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A Gravity Model Integrating Land-Use and Transportation Policies for Sustainable Development: Case Study of Fresno, California

Abstract: 

The idea of urban compaction has been long proposed and promoted to address the problem of urban sprawl in many American cities. However, there are still rare successful cases of such implementation in the United States. This study uses a classic gravity model, TELUM (Transportation, Economic, and Land-Use Model) to examine to what extent a land-use or transportation policy must be regulated to make the urban compaction occur in a typical auto-dependent city—Fresno, California. Five scenarios are considered (BL, L1, L2, T1, and T2), in which the baseline (BL) is a natural growth scenario. Without any policy interventions, the city will inevitably expand outward. The L1 (high-intensity zoning) and L2 (growth boundary) results suggest that high-density zoning and growth boundary policies could make the compaction occur. The T1 (location impedance) and T2 (carbon tax) results reveal that transportation interventions would create barriers among regions/areas and therefore should be carefully used for compaction. This study not only adds to the literature on urban modeling but also contributes to the practice of smart growth or new urbanism policies for sustainability.

Authors: 

CHIH-HAO WANG, PHD

Dr. Chih-Hao Wang is an Associate Professor of the Department of Geography and City & Regional Planning at California State University, Fresno, where he has taught since 2014. He received his PhD (2013) and Master’s (2010) degrees in City and Regional Planning from The Ohio State University. Dr. Wang’s research focuses on environmental planning from the perspective of natural hazard mitigation. His research interests also include the application of spatial statistics to the analysis of spatial or social interactions in the earthquake process, as well as water management, transportation planning, and community development. His research has been published in journals in environmental planning, transportation, and geography.

NA CHEN, PHD

Dr. Na Chen is an Associate Professor in the School of Government at the Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China. She received her Bachelor’s in Public Policy (2008) from Sun Yat-sen University, her Master’s in Community Planning and Public Administration (2011) from Auburn University, AL, and her PhD in City and Regional Planning (2016) from The Ohio State University. She then worked as a postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Technology Management at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her research interests include transportation planning, activity-based travel behavior modeling, accessibility, activity space, transportation equity, land-use modeling, spatial econometrics, and Geographic Information System applications for urban planning. Based on her expertise in her areas of interest, Dr. Chen has published many papers in peer-reviewed journals and presented at international conferences. 

Published: 
April 2023
Keywords: 
Sustainability
Transportation planning
Urban compaction
Urban modeling
Land-use planning

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CSUTC
MCEEST
MCTM
NTFC
NTSC

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