Uri Avin

Even Smarter Growth? Land Use, Transportation, and Greenhouse Gas in Maryland

Authors: Avin, Uri, Timothy F. Welch, Gerrit Knaap, Fred Ducca, Sabyasachee Mishra, Yuchen Cui, and Sevgi Erd
Report
Synopsis: Urban form studies have generally used regional density vs. sprawl land use scenarios to assesstravel behavior outcomes. The more nuanced but nonetheless important allocation of jobs andhousing and their relationship to each other as a factor in travel behavior has received much lessattention. That relationship is explored in this statewide urban form study for Maryland. This is astate where county land use has a long tradition of growth management, but one whose regionaland statewide implications have not been evaluated. How does a continuation of the County levelsmart growth regime play out statewide compared to other scenarios of job and housingdistribution that are driven by higher driving costs or transit oriented development goals or localzoning rather than local policy-driven projections? Answers are provided through the applicationof a statewide travel demand model, the Maryland Statewide Transportation Model (MSTM).The findings suggest that the debate should move beyond walkability, density and compactgrowth and towards a more productive dialog about how we organize whole cities and regions.