Urban Form and Commuting Efficiency: A Comparative Analysis across Time and Space

In this paper, a method is proposed that relates several measures of average commute distance (actual, minimum, maximum) explicitly to urban form. Specifically, Brotchie’s urban triangle is modified to represent the commuting benchmarks (minimum and maximum commutes) and urban form of a city. By comparing the urban triangle of a city at different points in time, it is possible to determine whether commuting behaviour is becoming more or less efficient with respect to urban form. Also, comparisons can be made across multiple cities for a specific point in time. The method is applied empirically to examine the commuting efficiencies of three Canadian cities (Hamilton, Halifax and Vancouver) for three census years (1996, 2001 and 2006). Comparative analyses reveal the drawbacks of the excess commuting and commuting potential utilised approaches and demonstrate that the proposed method overcomes these limitations.