Ashwin Vasant

The Effect of Land Use Restrictions on Carbon Emissions

Started May 18, 2023

Abstract or project description

Ashwin is examining empirically whether restrictive and anti-density land use regulation generates increased energy use / carbon emissions because such regulation keeps population spread out rather than allowing it to cluster in dense cities, which would reduce commuting and other transportation use. In order to do so, he has compared the population density of 50 cities with their respective carbon outputs. He has also compared the population density of 50 cities with the transport carbon output as well as the vehicle miles traveled in each city. He has concluded that higher density doesn't result in a lower total city carbon output, but it does result in lower transportation-related carbon output.