The impact of land-use mix on residents' travel energy consumption: New evidence from Beijing

- Land-use diversity and the job-housing balance significantly reduce travel energy use.
- Retail-housing balance on the contrary increases travel energy use.
- Residents of suburban 'newtowns' tended to consume less travel energy.
- High-income residents tended to use more travel energy than average.
- Environmentally-aware residents used less travel energy.

Policies that encourage mixed land use are widely believed to make transport more energy efficient. However, few studies have directly examined the impacts of land-use heterogeneity on travel energy consumption at the individual level. Moreover, the definition and measures of land-use heterogeneity are debated. This paper aims to fill these gaps using the large city of Beijing, China, as a case study. Three types of land use are examined in terms of their effects on individual residents' travel energy consumption. The results suggest that high land-use diversity and a good jobs-housing balance significantly reduces commuting travel. Interestingly, highly heterogeneous retail and housing areas may have high travel energy use, as residents are more likely to go shopping. There are obvious spatial variations in these effects. Residents of suburban 'newtowns', where the jobs-housing balance is particularly good, consume less travel energy. The results suggest that decreased use of conventional planning patterns, such as the socialist danwei system, and increasing urban sprawl, bring new challenges to achieving transport efficiency. Mixed land-use policies can be an effective solution to these challenges.