MANY URBAN AREAS HAVE LOWER PER CAPITA FOOTPRINTS THAN AVERAGE Due to higher population densities, less personal vehicle travel, smaller homes, and efficiencies of scale, people living in large urban areas typically have a lower ecological footprint than those in suburban areas (but not necessarily lower than rural areas). A 2009 study by geographer David Dodman found that, of the cities analyzed, the only two urban areas with higher footprints than the national average were in China—Shanghai and Beijing (only Shanghai is shown here). However, a look at the data shows that their footprints were not high compared to other large cities but rather, the national footprint in China is very low due to the large rural, low-income population.