| Publication |
2014.
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| Summary/Abstract |
To better understand the role of sustainable urban development in greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation, this study examines the paths by which urban form influences an individual household×s carbon dioxide emissions in the 125 largest urbanized areas in the U.S. Our multilevel SEM analyses show that doubling population-weighted density is associated with a reduction in CO2 emissions from household travel and residential energy consumption by 48% and 35%, respectively. Centralized population and polycentric structures have only a moderate impact in our analyses. Given that household travel and residential energy use account for 42% of total U.S. carbon dioxide emissions, these findings highlight the importance of smart growth policies to build more compact and transit friendly cities as a crucial part of any strategic efforts to mitigate GHG emissions and to stabilize climate.
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