The Urban Land Institute project was funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Hewlett-Packard, The Baltimore Sun reported.

"The research shows that one of the best ways to reduce vehicle travel is to build places where people can accomplish more with less driving," said Reid Ewing, the lead author and a professor at the National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education at the University of Maryland.

Researchers say the number of miles driven per year in the United States has increased three times as fast as the population since 1980, and is expected to grow 59 percent by 2050. That would cancel any gains made by more fuel-efficient cars.