The Determinants of Urban Resource Consumption

This article analyzes data from a major household survey in Melbourne, Australia, to assess the relative importance of each of the five sets of predictors---individual (structural and attitudinal) and contextual (household, dwelling, and locational)---to an explanation of urban resource consumption that encompasses water, energy, housing, carbon-intensive travel, and domestic appliances. Using general linear modeling and multiple regression, we find that the determinants of consumption vary for the different domains of consumption and also that an individual’s attributes are less influential than contextual factors in accounting for a particular level of per capita resource consumption.