Impact of built environment* on human’s behaviors and travel choices from the economic point of view:
Impact of built environment* on human’s behaviors and travel choices from the economic point of view:
On the first week of class, we talked about the impact of infrastructure on our day-to-day life. The need to decide where to build infrastructure and how much of it build motivated the rise of the transportation field. Planning and design are the core of the transportation engineering field. However, there are other areas of study such as operations, network analysis, modeling, and financing that are important too. Economic theory is one of them.
This field explains changes on our transportation systems; such as the impact changing travel time and cost have on the system’s congestion and individual’s travel behavior. Economic concepts such as the idea of scarcity are applicable to the field of transportation. Limits on the amount of land and money to build our transportation infrastructure systems are common constraints. Economists want to make sure the new policies or infrastructure plans will not only be efficiently used by the consumers but also that consumers are willing to pay for it. For example, if funding becomes available to improve the transportation system between Seattle and Portland, should this money spend on roadways, trains, airports, or maritime infrastructure? The goal of economic theory is to prevent billions of dollars go to waste on travel delays, and fuel cost. The economic theory attempts to minimize this waste which would be considered a market failure.
Consider a new example, in Hillsboro, OR the popularity of a train station impacted the retail businesses around it. Investors and businesses flocked to this area thanks to planners that used economic theory to figure out what people want and inexpensively placed together services for which people were interested and willing to pay. Consider this interesting point: travel choices made by people who live in the area adjacent to the station are very different from people who live half a mile from the station. Due to the high demand generated by the station, there is now a dog park along with three other parks in the area as well as an increase in pedestrian activity in the area. This neighborhood now has restaurants, bars, medical offices, retail stores and activity centers for families and kids. Based on the economic theories, the investment or new policy is a success as people pay and use these services. Nowadays is more common to see neighborhoods shifting toward a mixed-use development pattern, and there have been many studies based on the economic theory showing the success of these land patterns.
*The built environment is the locations such as parks, buildings, and transportation systems made by humans.
Written by Sara Urbina
Edited by Santiago Espinosa Wild
It is interesting that this post analyzed the traveler's behavior and travel choices from an economic perspective. Transportation planning, policy, and policy implementation have always been closely related to the surrounding business district as well as traveler’s behavior. In fact, from an economic standpoint, the most important aim of transportation planning and the compilation of its budget has always been the high efficiency. However, the more important thing is the direction of efficiency, as mentioned in this post.
ReplyDeleteI loved the introduction we had to this class, spending time analyzing our own neighborhoods and thinking down into the layers of policy that dictate our trips from one place to another. You tied economic theory into this topic in an interesting way. Of course we have discussed the various costs and sunk costs that go into transportation not only infrastructure but personal costs. Using economic theory as a lens for major transportation decisions really brings traffic and congestion into a new light. The example you presented about the new station in Hillsboro I believe had some positive and extremely negative economic implications. I believe that the people in that area are worried for some gentrification like consequences from the new station. It is frustrating because offering new transportation infrastructure is usually welcomed as a positive addition to any neighborhood, and can be a vital service to members of that neighborhood. However if in the end it prices out the original tenants, who is it helping in the end?
ReplyDeleteThanks for an interesting and thoughtful post!
Sophie