ABSTRACT: Advocates of New Urbanism and Smart Growth concepts emphasize on neighbourhood form and design to achieve sustainability. Generally, three aspects of neighbourhood form are thought to be influencing travel patterns: density; diversity and design. Higher density and diversity provide more services and facilities available for those who are not using motor vehicles. Grid street networks compared with other patterns have better connectivity and provide shorter distances between destinations. The aggregate effects encourage walking; bicycling and using public transport thus decreasing the share of motorized travel. This paper compares two case suburban areas with two different development patterns in terms of design attributes and travel trends: Norwood and Golden Grove. The older suburb of Norwood (1953) promotes a sense of community through its scale; mixed-use development pattern; and walkable environments. The more recent (1980s — 90s) suburb Golden Grove has high-quality movement networks and landscaped recreational spaces, but it is less successful in properly addressing the creation of a pedestrian-oriented environment. The comparative study of the two suburbs enables us to evaluate sustainable urban form and realize the causal relationship between the neighbourhood form and travel patterns