Full Citation

Title: Urban Transportation Ecoefficiency: Social and Political Forces for Change in U.S. Metropolitan Areas

Citation Type: Dissertation/Thesis

Publication Year: 2012

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Abstract: Widespread automobile use has left a distinctive mark on urban transportation in the United States, where growth has been tailored to automobiles. Although cars enable people to travel farther than at any point in human history, evidence of their costs has grown. In particular, the environmental impacts of automobiles are extensive, including air and water pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and reductions in urban transportation ecoefficiency (TE). Overall, TE is the environmental impact per unit of travel; as a concept it can capture differential impacts of different transportation modes and travel distances. There are large variations in TE between metropolitan areas, and it is important to investigate factors that influence it to determine what measures can reduce the environmental impact of transportation.This dissertation describes the concept of TE in depth, arguing that it captures the systemic environmental impacts of transportation and is ideal for macro-level transportation studies. A TE measure using readily available data is then proposed, with four components: 1) percent of commuters driving to work; 2) percent of commuters taking public transit; 3) percent of commuters walking or riding a bicycle; and 4) population density. A confirmatory factor analysis and discussion of TE trends demonstrate that these components are useful for measuring TE and consistent in their relationships over time. Using this measure the trend for TE is downward most U.S. metropolitan areas have seen TE decline over the last 30 years.

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Authors: McCreery, Anna C.

Institution: The Ohio State University

Department: Environmental Science

Advisor: Dr. J. Craig Jenkins

Degree: Doctor of Philosophy

Publisher Location: Columbus, OH

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Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Housing and Segregation, Labor Force and Occupational Structure, Other

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