ABSTRACT

This chapter highlights and briefly discusses the main themes that land use and transportation researchers have focused on in order to present the evolution of land use and transportation research in a consolidated way. To begin the discussion on the evolution of research in land use and transport, it is useful to discuss the first technological breakthrough that was significant for transportation and urbanization. As public transit systems, and especially rail, continued to have a more permanent presence in cities, researchers began to study the integration between land use and transportation and the effect it had on where individuals and firms chose to locate. Given the growing interest in land use and transportation research, several regions in the United States began to develop land use and transportation plans based on large travel behavior surveys in order to relieve congestion. One of the most important trends in the literature on land use and transportation is related to accessibility research.