Explain the Influence of Urban Form on Travel Behavior in Urban Neighborhoods of Shiraz

Reduce consumption of fossil fuel and that`s negative effects is one of the most important issues related to sustainable development. With increasing distance from CBD, increasing walking time to public transportation, reducing density and mixed land use, car dependence and fuel consumption will be increased in transportation sector. In this regard and reducing fuel consumption in transportation sector, understanding the proper and sustainable urban forms and analysis of the current urban forms is an undeniable necessity for planning. This paper examines the findings of an empirical study, that have been studied the effects of urban form on households travel behavior in transportation sector in three neighborhoods of Shiraz with different urban form characteristics. The variables investigated in this research include the urban form variables and households car ownership. The urban form variables in this study contain of distance from CBD, walking time to public transport, mixed land use and density. Also travel frequency, travel time; travel distance and modal choice are travel behavior variables have been studied in this article. Information about urban form variables have been extracted from GIS maps of Shiraz and data of household travel behavior and car ownership are extracted from questionnaires. Number of questionnaires in this research is 260. To examine the relationship between urban form variables and travel behavior and car ownership, correlation analysis is used. Results of this study indicate the relationship between urban form and travel behavior variables, and households residing in neighborhoods close to CBD with high density and mixed land use have a different travel behavior with residents of other neighborhoods.