The amount of energy consumed in urban transportation is directly related to the number of vehicle-kilometres of travel. To reduce vehicle travel, strategies are needed to tackle its two components: the number of vehicle trips and their length. This study deals only with the second component.At present, various energy conservation strategies are being studied. The most important of these are: (1) improving the technical efficiency of the automobile by producing cars that are more fuel efficient and encouraging car pools — this can be effective in the short and medium term; (2) improving the urban transit system to increase the public transit modal share — this can also be effective in the short and medium term; (3) planning the urban structure in such a way as to reduce the number of vehicle-kilometres of travel — this can be effective in the longer term.In this study, an attempt is made to channel the growth in employment among the zones of an urban region in such a way as to provide maximum access opportunity with minimum travel requirements. The gravity model is used to simulate the pattern of trips to work and a performance measure is developed to evaluate the overall performance of the urban system. Calgary, Alberta, has been taken as a case study area in this analysis and a computer-aided investigation has been carried out to handle the allocation technique using a method of incremental maximization.The results of the study, when compared with the growth strategy proposed by the City of Calgary Planning Department, indicate that some savings in fuel consumption can be achieved by planning the location of future employment growth.