Abstract:
Increasing urbanization is affecting the environment more than ever before. The focus
has now shifted towards making cities more sustainable. This can be supported by the
planning approaches such as Low carbon emission development, Smart Growth, Transit
oriented development etc. that we are now taking in the urban planning realm. The main
argument put forward by the proponents of these development approaches is that the
characteristics of urban form have a direct impact on the scope of travel behavior of
people. Thus, the manner in which the future cities grow, is considered to be critical in
context to transportation. The way we move tells a lot about the built form. It has been
established that cities with higher density and better public transportation accessibility
leads to efficient travel pattern & low carbon emission. India is a fast urbanizing and with
existing densities in the 2 tier cities are on the verge of huge urban sprawl and there is a
potential within city limits to use land efficiently.
The research tries to establish that how urban form of a city can change the way people
travel in it. For the research, 3 wards from Bhopal City were taken as the case study area.
These were selected based on the distance from the city center. Various determinants
where undertaken to individually study the urban form (density, FAR, public transportation
accessibility) & travel behavior (trip length, modal split, vehicle ownership). Based on a
scoring system adapted from the literature review, both urban form and travel behavior of
3 wards was studied and the impact was assessed.
From the analysis, it was found that urban form has a direct impact on travel behavior.
Ward with the least score for travel behavior had the least score for urban form .Based
on this, the changes in urban form can be suggested. This will include the changes in
Development Regulations with one of the wards as a pilot area. A post implementation
assessment will also be done so as to see how much of change in urban form can lead
to more sustainable travel behavior.
