This dataset contains data on urban form (the configuration of the built environment) for each census tract in the United States, encompassing density (destination access), land use diversity (entropy), road network properties, road network capacity relative to the surrounding population, and public transit access. Metrics are measured around the centroid of each census tract in multiple given radii. The data also contain other publicly available metrics for each census tract that may be helpful, such as each tract's associated city, zipcode, and county name, area and water area, and centroid coordinates. Certain measures resemble those available in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agencies' Smart Location database or were derived from them, while others were compiled using additional data sources and the statistical model presented in the associated main article. Specifically, the data presented here contain travel energy use indices for each census tract, reflecting the estimated difference in daily land-based mobility energy use per capita relative to the baseline (the U.S. average) as a result of that environment's particular urban form. 

General description

Each urban form metric is first estimated at the level of the census block group (CBG). Those values are then aggregated to the census tract (CT) level, where each CT consists of 2-4 CBGs. This is done because geographical locations in the national household travel survey (NHTS), which this dataset has been designed to be merged with, are available specifically at the CT level. We measure all properties of urban form in a given constant radius around each CBG. Since CBGs and CTs are defined such that they contain a relatively constant residential population, they are smaller in dense areas than in low-density areas. Therefore, the effective spatial resolution of our analysis is higher in areas with a higher residential population density compared to lower-density areas and/or areas with commercial or industrial activity but fewer residents.

We measure urban form in five sets: destination density (the number of destinations accessible at certain distance intervals), land use entropy, access to public transit stops, road network properties, and road network capacity. These metrics are taken or derived from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agencies Smart Location (SL) database, complemented with information from OpenStreetMap (accessed using OSMnx, https://github.com/gboeing/osmnx). In Table S2 of the Supplementary Material of the associated article, we provide a detailed comparison between the measured urban form contained in the SL database and our measures, along with reasons for potential differences and additions.

List of all available columns

The file fields.csv included in this resource lists each data column available in the main data file, along with a brief description, the source of the original data that the indicator has been derived from, and a flag showing whether this indicator is used in the final model of the article that is associated with this dataset. A more detailed description of how each indicator was determined can also be found in the Supplementary Material of the associated article.

Energy use indices and their interpretation

The final set of indicators in the data file contains the travel energy use indices for each census tract. These indices reflect the estimated difference in daily mobility energy use for land-based travel per capita relative to the baseline (the U.S. average) as a result of that environment's particular urban form and are based on the fitted statistical coefficients of the model presented in the associated main article. They are unitless and relative in nature. For two different regions (e.g., census tracts or places) 0 and 1, the estimated difference in daily mobility energy use between those two places due to differences in urban form, in percent, is:

exp(eindex_0 - eindex_1) x 100 - 100

For example, if location 0 has an energy index value of -0.287, and location 1 has a value of 0.008, we estimate that the difference in daily average energy use for land-based mobility between location 0 and 1 is exp(-0.287-0.008)*100-100 = -25.5 (25.5% lower in location 0 than in location 1). Energy indices can be averaged over larger areas (e.g. across all census tracts in a given place) and are cumulative (e.g., the road network index can be combined with the access index).

The data is available as comma-separated-value (CSV) files and can be opened with any appropriate software.