Marchetti's constant

Marchetti's constant is a term for the average amount of time spent travelling each day, which is approximately one and a half hours. Developed by Venetian physicist Cesare Marchetti, it posits that although forms of urban planning and transport may change, and although some live in villages and others in cities, people gradually adjust their lives to their conditions (including location of their homes relative to their workplace) such that the average travel time stays approximately constant.^[1][2] Even since Neolithic times, people have kept the time at which they travel per day the same, even though the distance may increase.

Activist, consultant and author Peter Newman often makes reference to Marchetti's Constant in his arguments for sustainable urban planning and transport.^[3]

A related concept is that of Yakov Zahavi, who also noticed that people seem to have a constant 'travel time budget'. Zahavi's work is cited by David Metz in his book 'The Limits to Travel' (2008) published by Earthscan, London p. 8. Metz refers to the travel time budget as 'a stable daily amount of time that people make available for travel' (ibid). Metz cites data of average travel time in Britain drawn from the British National Travel Survey in support of Marchetti's and Zahavi's conclusions. This work casts doubt on the contention that investment in infrastructure saves travel time. Instead it appears from Metz's figures that people invest travel time saved in travelling a longer distance. The point is also made in a 2009 paper by Yves Crozet: 'Economic Development and the Role of Travel time: The key concept of accessibility' published in Commissioned Papers for the 4th International Future Urban Transport Conference of the Volvo Research and Educational Foundations, Gothenburg, Sweden, April 19–21 2009.

References

1. ^ Marchetti, C., 1994: Anthropological Invariants in Travel Behavior, Technological Forecasting and Social Change , 47 :75--88, Internal Publication, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Laxenburg, Austria http://www.cesaremarchetti.org/archive/electronic/basic_instincts.pdf
2. ^ Toward green mobility: the evolution of transport, Jesse H. Ausubel, Cesare Marchetti and Perrin Meyer, 1998 (accessed Nov 6, 2006).; The Evolution of Transport, April/May 2001, Jesse H. Ausubel and Cesare Marchetti. Includes observations on historical cities.
3. ^ Why we're reaching our limits as a one-hour city Peter Newman, Sydney Morning Herald, April 26, 2004 (accessed Nov 6, 2006)

This article relating to urban studies and planning is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.v · Categories: Urban studies and planning stubs Urban studies and planning Urban geography Commuting Transport economics Transportation planning Sustainable transport Wikimedia Foundation. 2010. Игры ⚽ Нужна курсовая? Pogăneşti, Hînceşti Marchetti MVT Look at other dictionaries: Marchetti's Constant — is a term for the average amount of time spent travelling each day, which is approximately one and a half hours. Developed by Venetian physicist Cesare Marchetti, it posits that although forms of urban planning and transport may change, and… …   Wikipedia Savoia-Marchetti SM.82 — Infobox Aircraft name=SM.82 Marsupiale caption= type=Heavy bomber/transport manufacturer= Savoia Marchetti designer= first flight= 1939 introduced= 1941 retired= After 1960 status= primary user=Regia Aeronautica more users=Luftwaffe Aeronautica… …   Wikipedia Peter Newman (environmental scientist) — Peter William Geoffrey Newman is an Environmental scientist, activist and educator based in Perth, Western Australia.ReputationPeter Newman is perhaps best known internationally for coining the term ‘automobile dependence’ in the second half of… …   Wikipedia Musique concrète — La musique concrète ou musique acousmatique (aussi appelée musique pour bande) est un genre musical dont les fondations théoriques et esthétiques ont été développées en France par Pierre Schaeffer à la fin des années 1940 pour la musique concrète …   Wikipédia en Français List of composers by name — This is a list of composers by name, alphabetically. For lists of music composers by other classifications, see List of composers. NOTOC A*Els Aarne (1917 1995) *Evald Aav (1900 1939) *Juhan Aavik (1884 1982) *Petrus Abaelardus (1079 1142) *Frank …   Wikipedia Acousmatique — Musique acousmatique La musique acousmatique est un sous genre spécifique de la musique électroacoustique « savante ». Est dit acousmatique un son que l on entend sans voir la cause qui le produit. Par exemple, on peut dire de la radio… …   Wikipédia en Français Musique Acousmatique — La musique acousmatique est un sous genre spécifique de la musique électroacoustique « savante ». Est dit acousmatique un son que l on entend sans voir la cause qui le produit. Par exemple, on peut dire de la radio qu elle est un média… …   Wikipédia en Français Musique acousmatique — La musique acousmatique est un sous genre spécifique de la musique électroacoustique « savante ». Est dit acousmatique un son que l on entend sans voir la cause qui le produit. Par exemple, on peut dire de la radio qu elle est un média… …   Wikipédia en Français Siege of Malta (World War II) — Siege of Malta Part of the Second World War Mediterranean theatre …   Wikipedia East African Campaign (World War II) — Warbox conflict=East African Campaign partof=African Campaigns, World War II campaign= caption=Personnel from the King s African Rifles (KAR) collect weapons (mostly Carcano 1891 rifles) captured from Italian forces at Wolchefit Pass, Ethiopia,… …   Wikipedia 18+ © Academic, 2000-2024 Contact us: Technical Support, Advertising Dictionaries export, created on PHP, Joomla, Drupal, WordPress, MODx. Mark and share Search through all dictionaries Translate… Search Internet Share the article and excerpts Direct link … Do a right-click on the link above and select “Copy Link”