Study after study shows that people who live in higher-density, mixed-use neighborhoods tend to walk more and drive their automobiles less, thus reducing the environmental impact of automobile dependence.

But the study "Examining the Impacts of Residential Self-Selection on Travel Behaviour: A Focus on Empirical Findings" wondered whether residential self-selection might confound the idea that the built environment overrides the natural disposition of people leave where they are comfortable. In other words, maybe you could take the people out of the suburbs but not as easily take the habits of the suburbs out of the people.

The paper identified nine approaches used in previous research to empirically address the issue of residential selfselection, and reviewed the empirical findings of 38 studies using those approaches.

"If the key question is, ‘Does the…

[This is the second of four-part expert blog post by Mike Lydon, the founding Principal of The Street Plans Collaborative. Lydon's posts  are part of a series of expert blogs on TOD highlighting work and research that experts are doing in the field.]

  Reconnecting America's Jeff Wood attended the New Partners for Smarth Growth conference in Seattle, Feb. 4-6, 2010.  Below are the Tweets from Reconnecting America (@reconnecting) and others who attended.    User Date Time Tweet mikemathieu 2/8/10 5:02 PM @jhiskes You must have missed @mrlerner's Walk Score talk at #npsg10 Also check out NRDC on Location Efficiency Cal_Plan 2/7/10 2:24 PM Troika of federal agencies lay out coordinated smart growth effort. Billions of dollars for locals. http://ow.ly/14QcJ #smartgrowth #npsg10 DanBurden 2/7/10 1:23 PM RT @walkable: Sac similar RT @reconnecting Steve Sugg: University Place Wasington road diet reductions-54% crash, 55% injury, 7% speed, 4% volume #npsg10 LandPlanner 2/7/10 12:56 PM RT @reconnecting: Dan Kildee: Spending $3.5m clearing blighted areas unlocked $112m in value Mich State Study #npsg10 jacutanz 2/7/10 9:28 AM RT @Cal_Plan: RT @cv4nash: Ben Yazici: corridor instead of intersection LOS allows non motorized…

  In 1953, Charles Wilson, General Motor's president, became President Eisenhower's secretary of defense. It was a time when "What's good for General Motors is good for the country." So perhaps it is unsurprising that it was the Eisenhower administration that launched the Interstate Highway System. Today, looking at what happened to Detroit offers an amazing look into how the automobile, the infrastructure that was built to facillitate it and the ways that infrastructure allowed people to move about -- all set in motion the Detroit of today and America. PBS's Blueprint America project took on Detroit yesterday and the hour and 26 minute program is a tour-de-force explaination of why today you might take Charles Wilson's words and restate them as "What's good for Detroit is good for the country." As the program points out, a major infrastructure project is required today to rebuild and reconnect America. Expensive? Of course. But how can we not afford it? The recent efforts by the…

  Two reports from the Journal of Transport and Land Use discussing urban spatial
structure and commuting patterns have been added to the Best Practices.

In "Commuting in Belgian metropolitan areas: The power of the Alonso-Muth model" researchers conduct cluster analyses from which they derive a commuting typology of city region areas. Distance, housing characteristics, housing environment, and income play key roles in commuting patterns in the metropolitan areas under consideration. The results of the study found the spatial pattern of commuting in and around the Belgian metropolitan areas is consistent with the principles of the Alonso-Muth model.

"Worldwide research has shown that, on average, people spend a fixed share of their income on transportation," the researchers note. "Among member nations of the…