Travel energy consumption and the built environment : evidence from Flanders

This paper examines the relationship between energy consumption, daily travel distance and spatial characteristics in Flanders (and partly also in Brussels), in the north of Belgium. Important regional variations in commute-energy consumption are noticed, which are related to the spatial-economic structure including aspects of population density and spatial proximity. It is found that mode choice appears to be of little impact for the energy performance of home-to-work travel at the scale of the Flanders region, while proximity between home and work locations is paramount. At the other hand, when assessing overall daily travel patterns including non-work travel, variables based on the spatial distribution of jobs do not show significant effects on the travel distance. This finding qualifies the limited importance of the commute: today, mainly non-professional travel is growing. It can be concluded that residential density and land use mix in urban areas is the best guarantee for curbing excessive mobility