earticle

영어

Transportation sector is the largest source of energy demand and associated greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for approximately 20% of the total domestic energy demand in Korea. The rapid increase of its energy demand driven by the economic and population growth calls for the urgent solutions. Urban form has been a subject of interest both academically and in practice with a link to sustainable transportation. Urban form influences travel behaviors and patterns of the citizens, thus impacting associated energy consumption in a city. Against this backdrop, this study aims to examine the association of urban form and energy consumption in the transportation sector, conducting a multiple regression analysis and spatial autocorrelation analysis for 225 local municipalities in Korea. Characteristics of urban form were identified at various levels: macro urban form, internal urban spatial distribution and connectivity. In addition, corresponding indices to measure each of the characteristics were introduced including population and housing density, Moran’s I index, Gini coefficient, road coverage and the ratio of major roads. A test for the spatial autocorrelation indicates its existence in the model and further Lagrange Multiplier test identifies a spatial error model as an appropriate model. The results indicate that cities with higher density with equal distribution of population are likely to consume less transportation energy. Besides, the supply of roads encourages more travels using private cars, which is not a good option for a sustainable and climate change resilient city.