Urban Form and Transportation Infrastructure in European Cities

In this paper data from the 2006 Urban Atlas are used to analyze the relationship between urban form and the length of the road network. Urban Atlas includes information on the land use in every city block of the 305 largest cities in EU. The length of the road network (highways, other roads) is estimated from the UA data and road availability indicators are introduced. Various urban form characteristics are estimated from the UA and reported for 5 different European regions (UK & Ireland, Scandinavia, Central Europe, East Europe and South/Mediterranean countries) and 5 different city size groups. Urban form characteristics and population densities differences are reflected in the road availability indicators. The results of a correlation analysis between road availability indicators and the various urban form characteristics are reported. A regression analysis is performed and the results show that the road indicators are a function of urban form characteristics.