Citation

Delclòs-Alió X, Kanai C, Soriano L, Quistberg DA, Ju Y, Dronova I, Gouveia N, Rodriguez DA. Travel Behav. Soc. 2023; 30: 192-201.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2023, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.tbs.2022.09.005

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Car use creates significant externalities for urban residents worldwide. City characteristics such as the configuration of the urban landscape and street network likely influence the use and attractiveness of automobiles, especially in rapidly urbanizing areas such as Latin America. The understanding of factors associated with motorization can inform planning measures to reduce car usage, and to promote healthier, safer, and more sustainable urban lifestyles. We harmonized official passenger vehicle data from 300 cities with >100,000 inhabitants in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico, and we calculated urban landscape metrics from satellite imagery and street network metrics from OpenStreetMaps. Analyzed cities had an average of 273.3 cars per 1,000 residents in 2015 and showed an average car rate increase of 30 % between 2010 and 2015. We used negative binomial regression to examine the association between car rates and urban landscape and street network characteristics, and linear regression to examine the association between the same characteristics and car rate increases. Car rates in the 300 cities analyzed showed a partial positive association with development fragmentation, and a consistent positive association with urban form complexity and circuity of the street network. In addition, the increase in car rates between 2010 and 2015 showed a negative association with population density. Implementing regional policies to reduce development fragmentation, to promote compact urban forms and less circuitous street networks may help reducing motorization in Latin American cities. Special attention needs to be paid to low density areas, where the increase in vehicle rates has been more pronounced.

Language: en

Keywords

Automobiles; Latin America; Mobility; Street network; Transportation; Urban landscape