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Introduction
New Urbanism has emerged as a viable alternative to traditional suburban developments in cities throughout the United States. The New Urbanist design philosophy proposes to construct developments that closely mimic older, more traditional developments in US cities. These older developments are typically characterized by connected street networks, a mix of uses, and bicycle and pedestrian-friendly streets - qualities that are commonly associated with many US neighborhoods built in the early twentieth century or before. New Urbanism promises new developments favoring the design guidelines of such 'old urbanist' neighborhoods that will in turn support less auto-dependency among residents (concomitant with the travel behavior of residents of 'old urbanist' neighborhoods). Previous research has compared travel behavior in New Urbanist - or 'neo-traditional' - developments to sprawling suburban development; however, such research has largely overlooked the extent to which travel behavior in New Urbanist developments compares to that of older, more traditional neighborhoods - what we term 'old urbanist' neighborhoods - within the same region. Are New Urbanist developments supporting similar travel behavior to that of old urbanist neighborhoods they emulate?
This research asks the following questions: are residents of New Urbanist developments walking, cycling and using transit at similar rates to those of older, more established neighborhoods, and if not, why? Within the research questions, there are three primary objectives: (i) to quantify and compare travel behavior in 'new' and 'old' urbanist neighborhoods; (ii) to understand why travel behavior may be similar across these neighborhoods - despite other differences - or why not? and (iii) to offer evidence-based guidance to practitioners looking to use New Urbanist development patterns as a strategy for increasing bicycling, walking and transit use.
The selected comparison communities are located in the City of Denver, Colorado. Denver offers an ideal case for comparison because it is home to the Stapleton and Lowry New Urbanist developments. These developments represent two of the largest New Urbanist developments in the United States as well as two of the largest urban infill projects in the United States. Denver is also home to numerous pre-World War II developments, constructed largely between the 1890s and 1920s. These developments were built during the early streetcar era and prior to widespread adoption of the automobile. Like many US cities, Denver...