Commuting CO2 emissions and built environment around residences and workplaces: Income disparities

Understanding the effects of the built environment (BE) on commuting CO₂ emissions is critical for developing low-carbon cities and advancing sustainable urban development. However, few studies have jointly assessed the effects of BE around residences and workplaces, especially with respect to income-based disparities in high-density urban contexts. In this study, cross-classified multilevel modeling is applied to household travel survey data from Xi’an, a high-density Chinese city. The results show that commuters with higher income generate disproportionately higher commuting CO₂ emissions and exhibit greater sensitivity to the BE attributes. Distance to the city center from residences and transit stations, parking lot density, and job accessibility around workplaces are key BE predictors of commuting CO₂ emissions. Unlike in low-density cities, high density and mixed land use are unimportant for carbon reduction in dense urban environments.