Abstract:

China is now experiencing rapid urbanizatioin. Powerful tools are required to assess its urban spatial policies toward a more competitive and sustainable development paradigm. This study develops a Land Use Transport Interaction (LUTI) model to evaluate the urban activity impacts of urban land-use policies. The model consists of four sub-models, i.e., transport, residential location, employment location and real estate rent. It is then applied to Beijing metropolitan area to forecast the urban activity evolution trend based on the land use policies between 2009 and 2013. The modeling results show that more and more residents and employers in the city choose to stay in the outskirts, and new centers have gradually emerged to share the services originally delivered by central Beijing. The general trend verifies the objectives of the government plan to develop more sub-centers around Beijing. The proposed activity-based model provides a distinct tool for the urban spatial policy makers in China. Further research is also discussed in the end.

Key words: model/simulation, LUTI, accessibility, urban activity, policy scenario