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Differences in Urban Form and Transportation Systems

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America’s Urban Future
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Abstract

Urban form, or the shape that a settlement takes on the ground, is key to describing and understanding any urban region. A region's urban form not only underlays its character and distinctiveness but has a major effect on its sustainability and livability. Its overall size and density, the location of major employment and residential areas, and the fine-grained texture of land uses in the different precincts of the region all affect how the region works. Urban form influences how urbanites get from place to place, their access to work and other life opportunities, the availability of housing of different types, and the overall prosperity of the region.

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    Paul Schimek, for one, has dismissed this factor as an explanation for differences in the mix of housing stock in the countries, noting that detached housing trends did not track income changes over time. See Paul Schimek, “Automobile and Public Transit Use in the United States and Canada: Comparison of Postwar Trends,” Transportation Research Record 1521 (1996): 3–11.

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© 2015 Ray Tomalty and Alan Mallach

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Tomalty, R., Mallach, A. (2015). Differences in Urban Form and Transportation Systems. In: America’s Urban Future. Island Press, Washington, DC. https://doi.org/10.5822/978-1-61091-597-7_5

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