Non-Motorized Transportation & Land Use
  This research area attempts to understand 1) how built and natural environment affects transportation behavior, mode choice, mobility, and accessibility; 2) individual choices and preferences toward transportation and neighborhood design; 3) integration of land use and transportation in planning, design and implementation; and 4) multi-modal transportation and land use interactions.
Away from Home and Out of School: Adolescent PA and BMI Changes That Occur with Driving and Eating Out
Forthcoming
Advanced Modeling System for Assessing Long-Term Regional Development Patterns, Travel Behavior, Emissions, and Air Quality
 Daniel Rodriguez & Yan Song, Co-PIs. The fundamental goal of our research is to rigorously test the hypothesis that development patterns, implemented regionally over a planning horizon of 50 years, can significantly influence the spatial characteristics and quantity of emissions from on-road mobile sources and rail transit vehicles, and hence reduce levels of tropospheric ozone and fine particulate matter. The development patterns of interest include the type of development and its location: e.g., transit oriented development, dense mixed use development, development supportive of nonmotorized transportation modes for nonwork trips, neotraditional suburbs, new urban core development, and redevelopment. We will test our hypothesis with a case study of the Charlotte (NC) metropolitan area. Our research will inform efforts to bring the area into attainment with the 8-hour ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards. It will augment the region’s Sustainable Environment for Quality of Life (SEQL) program. This EPA-funded initiative engages multiple stakeholders in strategic efforts to improve air quality and water quality and to achieve sustainable growth.
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Planning and Physical Activity: Testing associations between physical activity and the urban built environment
 The aims of the study are to: a) replicate and test the statistical and practical significance of the relationship between objectively-measured physical activity and an expanded range of measures of the built and natural environments; b) examine potential substitution effects among the locations where physical activity can take place by collecting original data on how people allocate time to physical activity and details on where such activity occurs; and c) incorporate individual preferences and attitudes to examine issues of self-selection related to location and physical activity levels. This study takes place in Montgomery County, Maryland. The county contains a variety of built environments. From exurban areas to highly urbanized, transit-oriented areas, Montgomery County provides opportunities to test the relevant associations described herein. Across Montgomery County, there are differences in factors such as urban density, the age and racial mix of the population, employment level, income, and automobile ownership. We use a quasi-experimental research design based on a microeconomic behavioral model to examine the simultaneous influence of factors related to the physical environment on time allocated to physical activity at various locations (at home, in one's local neighborhood, for travel, or at other locations). We rely on a socio-ecologic model to identify individual factors, social factors, social-environmental factors, attitudinal/habitual factors, and physical environmental factors at the individual level that can influence the relationship modeled.
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