Urban development and climate change

Abstract

With growing worldwide concern about global climate change, this article asks two critical questions: What reduction in vehicle‐miles traveled (VMT) is possible in the USA with compact development rather than continuing urban sprawl?; and What reduction in greenhouse gas emissions would accompany such a reduction in VMT? Based on four different planning literatures, the answer to the first question appears to be a 20–40% reduction in VMT for each increment of new development. The answer to the second question is a 7–10% reduction in total transport carbon dioxide emissions by the year 2050 under a plausible set of assumptions.