If your city is looking for ways to reduce vehicle emissions, the Urban Land Institute has published Moving Cooler: An Analysis of Transportation Strategies for Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions,  a look at the importance of sustainable land development in mitigating climate change.

Prepared by Cambridge Systematics, a Cambridge, Mass.-based transportation consulting and management firm, Moving Cooler explores incremental reductions in U.S. carbon emissions that could occur within the transportation sector as a result of a wide variety of transportation- and land use-related actions and strategies to minimize auto use, including more compact development. Unlike other research, which focuses primarily on addressing climate change by improving vehicle fuel efficiency or introducing alternative “clean” fuels, Moving Cooler focuses on strategies to reduce vehicle miles traveled and improve the efficiency of the transportation network. The report was prepared to inform various federal, state, and local proposals and plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from all sectors of the U.S. economy by more than 80 percent of the 2005 level by 2050.

“To really make a dent in carbon emissions, solutions are needed that incentivize more concentrated and pedestrian-friendly development patterns that reduce auto dependency,” said ULI Senior Vice President Dean Schwanke, at a press conference announcing the publication.  “Focusing solely on energy efficient vehicles and cleaner fuels will not sufficiently address the problem.”

Schwanke pointed out that as much as two-thirds of the development expected to exist in the U.S. by 2050 is not yet built. As a result, he said, there are significant opportunities to lower transportation-related carbon emissions through more compact development that provides transportation options and attractive urban settings. “Sticking to sprawling development patterns of the past will leave us spending more time behind the wheel, putting more cars on the road and adding to gridlock,” Schwanke noted. “That’s not a good answer to climate change. A much better response is well-planned, compact development that offers a mix of uses and encourages walking, biking and taking public transit. The greenest car is the one that is not needed for every trip to get from one place to another.”

Land use is one of nine categories of strategies considered by Moving Cooler, along with transportation pricing and taxes, public transportation improvements, non-motorized transport such as walking and biking, regulations to moderate vehicle use and speed, intelligent systems, expanded highway capacity and more efficient freight movement. The effectiveness of each strategy in cutting greenhouse gas emissions is measured against a baseline that represents current trends.

Moving Cooler points out that economy-wide pricing measures — such as an increase in the gasoline tax, carbon pricing, and pay-as-you-drive insurance – would produce the most significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, due to the likelihood of substantial shifts in driving behavior mandated by the high costs. However, outside of these pricing measures, the land use strategies produce the most emission reductions of any of the other strategies analyzed. Moreover, the costs of implementing such changes in development patterns are offset by the substantial savings in the cost of vehicle ownership and maintenance, the report adds.