IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jotrge/v91y2021ics0966692321000363.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The indirect effect of the built environment on travel mode choice: A focus on recent movers

Author

Listed:
  • De Vos, Jonas
  • Cheng, Long
  • Kamruzzaman, Md.
  • Witlox, Frank

Abstract

Many studies have demonstrated that the built environment has a strong impact on people's travel mode choice. However, the built environment also influences elements such as travel distance and car ownership, which might be the true predictors of which travel modes are chosen. In this study, we analyse the effects of changes in residential neighbourhood on changes in travel mode (for commute trips and leisure trips), both directly and indirectly through changes in car ownership, travel distances and travel attitudes. This study applies a structural equation modelling approach using quasi-longitudinal data from 1650 recently relocated residents in the city of Ghent, Belgium. Results indicate that the built environment has strong direct effects on active leisure trips and car use. However, distance (for car use) and attitudes (for active travel) were found to be important mediating variables. In sum, the effect of the built environment on travel mode choice might be more complex than commonly assumed as it partly seems mediated by travel distance and travel attitudes.

Suggested Citation

  • De Vos, Jonas & Cheng, Long & Kamruzzaman, Md. & Witlox, Frank, 2021. "The indirect effect of the built environment on travel mode choice: A focus on recent movers," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jotrge:v:91:y:2021:i:c:s0966692321000363
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2021.102983
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0966692321000363
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2021.102983?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Müggenburg, Hannah & Busch-Geertsema, Annika & Lanzendorf, Martin, 2015. "Mobility biographies: A review of achievements and challenges of the mobility biographies approach and a framework for further research," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 151-163.
    2. Dargay, Joyce M., 2002. "Determinants of car ownership in rural and urban areas: a pseudo-panel analysis," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 38(5), pages 351-366, September.
    3. Ding, Yu & Lu, Huapu, 2016. "Activity participation as a mediating variable to analyze the effect of land use on travel behavior: A structural equation modeling approach," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 23-28.
    4. De Vos, Jonas & Derudder, Ben & Van Acker, Veronique & Witlox, Frank, 2012. "Reducing car use: changing attitudes or relocating? The influence of residential dissonance on travel behavior," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 22(C), pages 1-9.
    5. Reid Ewing & Robert Cervero, 2010. "Travel and the Built Environment," Journal of the American Planning Association, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 76(3), pages 265-294.
    6. Golob, Thomas F., 2003. "Structural equation modeling for travel behavior research," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 1-25, January.
    7. Xinyu Cao & Patricia L Mokhtarian & Susan L Handy, 2007. "Cross-Sectional and Quasi-Panel Explorations of the Connection between the Built Environment and Auto Ownership," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 39(4), pages 830-847, April.
    8. Patricia L. Mokhtarian & Michael N. Bagley, 2002. "The impact of residential neighborhood type on travel behavior: A structural equations modeling approach," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 36(2), pages 279-297.
    9. Ajzen, Icek, 1991. "The theory of planned behavior," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 179-211, December.
    10. Bhat, Chandra R. & Guo, Jessica Y., 2007. "A comprehensive analysis of built environment characteristics on household residential choice and auto ownership levels," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 41(5), pages 506-526, June.
    11. Van Acker, Veronique & Witlox, Frank, 2010. "Car ownership as a mediating variable in car travel behaviour research using a structural equation modelling approach to identify its dual relationship," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 65-74.
    12. Ding, Chuan & Cao, Xinyu, 2019. "How does the built environment at residential and work locations affect car ownership? An application of cross-classified multilevel model," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 37-45.
    13. Kamruzzaman, Md. & Baker, Douglas & Washington, Simon & Turrell, Gavin, 2013. "Residential dissonance and mode choice," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 12-28.
    14. Donggen Wang & Tao Lin, 2019. "Built environment, travel behavior, and residential self-selection: a study based on panel data from Beijing, China," Transportation, Springer, vol. 46(1), pages 51-74, February.
    15. Tim Schwanen & Martin Dijst & Frans M Dieleman, 2002. "A Microlevel Analysis of Residential Context and Travel Time," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 34(8), pages 1487-1507, August.
    16. de Abreu e Silva, João & Morency, Catherine & Goulias, Konstadinos G., 2012. "Using structural equations modeling to unravel the influence of land use patterns on travel behavior of workers in Montreal," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 46(8), pages 1252-1264.
    17. Xiaodong Guan & Donggen Wang & Xinyu Jason Cao, 2020. "The role of residential self-selection in land use-travel research: a review of recent findings," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(3), pages 267-287, May.
    18. Ralph Buehler & John Pucher & Regine Gerike & Thomas Götschi, 2017. "Reducing car dependence in the heart of Europe: lessons from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(1), pages 4-28, January.
    19. Scheiner, Joachim, 2010. "Interrelations between travel mode choice and trip distance: trends in Germany 1976–2002," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 75-84.
    20. Lin, Tao & Wang, Donggen & Guan, Xiaodong, 2017. "The built environment, travel attitude, and travel behavior: Residential self-selection or residential determination?," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 111-122.
    21. Van Acker, Veronique & Mokhtarian, Patricia L. & Witlox, Frank, 2014. "Car availability explained by the structural relationships between lifestyles, residential location, and underlying residential and travel attitudes," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 88-99.
    22. Md. Kamruzzaman & Simon Washington & Douglas Baker & Wendy Brown & Billie Giles-Corti & Gavin Turrell, 2016. "Built environment impacts on walking for transport in Brisbane, Australia," Transportation, Springer, vol. 43(1), pages 53-77, January.
    23. De Vos, Jonas & Ettema, Dick & Witlox, Frank, 2018. "Changing travel behaviour and attitudes following a residential relocation," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 131-147.
    24. Md. Kamruzzaman & Simon Washington & Douglas Baker & Wendy Brown & Billie Giles-Corti & Gavin Turrell, 2016. "Built environment impacts on walking for transport in Brisbane, Australia," Transportation, Springer, vol. 43(1), pages 53-77, January.
    25. Ding, Chuan & Wang, Donggen & Liu, Chao & Zhang, Yi & Yang, Jiawen, 2017. "Exploring the influence of built environment on travel mode choice considering the mediating effects of car ownership and travel distance," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 65-80.
    26. Metin Senbil & Ryuichi Kitamura & Jamilah Mohamad, 2009. "Residential location, vehicle ownership and travel in Asia: a comparative analysis of Kei-Han-Shin and Kuala Lumpur metropolitan areas," Transportation, Springer, vol. 36(3), pages 325-350, May.
    27. Xinyu Cao & Patricia Mokhtarian & Susan Handy, 2007. "Do changes in neighborhood characteristics lead to changes in travel behavior? A structural equations modeling approach," Transportation, Springer, vol. 34(5), pages 535-556, September.
    28. Zhang, Lei & Hong, Jin Hyun & Nasri, Arefeh & Shen, Qing, 2012. "How built environment affects travel behavior: A comparative analysis of the connections between land use and vehicle miles traveled in US cities," The Journal of Transport and Land Use, Center for Transportation Studies, University of Minnesota, vol. 5(3), pages 40-52.
    29. Handy, Susan & Cao, Xinyu & Mokhtarian, Patricia L., 2005. "Correlation or causality between the built environment and travel behavior? Evidence from Northern California," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt5b76c5kg, University of California Transportation Center.
    30. Joachim Scheiner & Christian Holz-Rau, 2013. "Changes in travel mode use after residential relocation: a contribution to mobility biographies," Transportation, Springer, vol. 40(2), pages 431-458, February.
    31. Giuliano, Genevieve & Dargay, Joyce, 2006. "Car ownership, travel and land use: a comparison of the US and Great Britain," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 106-124, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Shen, Tonggaochuan & Cheng, Long & Yang, Yongjiang & Deng, Jialin & Jin, Tanhua & Cao, Mengqiu, 2023. "Do residents living in transit-oriented development station catchment areas travel more sustainably? The impacts of life events," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 118813, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    2. Pan, Yu & He, Sylvia Y., 2023. "An investigation into the impact of the built environment on the travel mobility gap using mobile phone data," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    3. Dimas Bayu Endrayana Dharmowijoyo & Yusak Octavius Susilo & Tri Basuki Joewono, 2021. "Residential Locations and Health Effects on Multitasking Behaviours and Day Experiences," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-21, October.
    4. Zhou, Xizhen & Ding, Xueqi & Yan, Jie & Ji, Yanjie, 2023. "Spatial heterogeneity of urban illegal parking behavior: A geographically weighted Poisson regression approach," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    5. Ji, Shujuan & Wang, Xin & Lyu, Tao & Liu, Xiaojie & Wang, Yuanqing & Heinen, Eva & Sun, Zhenwei, 2022. "Understanding cycling distance according to the prediction of the XGBoost and the interpretation of SHAP: A non-linear and interaction effect analysis," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    6. Doddamani, Chetan & Manoj, M., 2022. "Residential relocation and changes in household vehicle ownership and travel behavior: Exploring the context of Hubli-Dharwad twin-cities in India from a planning viewpoint," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 134-155.
    7. Yang Yang & Samitha Samaranayake & Timur Dogan, 2023. "Assessing impacts of the built environment on mobility: A joint choice model of travel mode and duration," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 50(9), pages 2359-2375, November.
    8. Keliang Liu & Jian Chen & Rui Li & Tao Peng & Keke Ji & Yuyue Gao, 2022. "Nonlinear Effects of Community Built Environment on Car Usage Behavior: A Machine Learning Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-17, May.
    9. Yang, Binyu & Tian, Yuan & Wang, Jian & Hu, Xiaowei & An, Shi, 2022. "How to improve urban transportation planning in big data era? A practice in the study of traffic analysis zone delineation," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 1-14.
    10. Mingwei He & Jianbo Li & Zhuangbin Shi & Yang Liu & Chunyan Shuai & Jie Liu, 2022. "Exploring the Nonlinear and Threshold Effects of Travel Distance on the Travel Mode Choice across Different Groups: An Empirical Study of Guiyang, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(23), pages 1-23, November.
    11. Bi, Hui & Li, Aoyong & Hua, Mingzhuang & Zhu, He & Ye, Zhirui, 2022. "Examining the varying influences of built environment on bike-sharing commuting: Empirical evidence from Shanghai," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 51-65.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jonas De Vos & Long Cheng & Frank Witlox, 2021. "Do changes in the residential location lead to changes in travel attitudes? A structural equation modeling approach," Transportation, Springer, vol. 48(4), pages 2011-2034, August.
    2. De Vos, Jonas & Mouratidis, Kostas & Cheng, Long & Kamruzzaman, Md., 2021. "Does a residential relocation enable satisfying travel?," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 188-201.
    3. De Vos, Jonas & Ettema, Dick & Witlox, Frank, 2018. "Changing travel behaviour and attitudes following a residential relocation," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 131-147.
    4. Van Acker, Véronique & Mulley, Corinne & Ho, Loan, 2019. "Impact of childhood experiences on public transport travel behaviour," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 783-798.
    5. van Wee, Bert & De Vos, Jonas & Maat, Kees, 2019. "Impacts of the built environment and travel behaviour on attitudes: Theories underpinning the reverse causality hypothesis," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    6. Donggen Wang & Tao Lin, 2019. "Built environment, travel behavior, and residential self-selection: a study based on panel data from Beijing, China," Transportation, Springer, vol. 46(1), pages 51-74, February.
    7. Guan, Xiaodong & Wang, Donggen, 2020. "The multiplicity of self-selection: What do travel attitudes influence first, residential location or work place?," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    8. De Vos, Jonas & Singleton, Patrick A., 2020. "Travel and cognitive dissonance," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 525-536.
    9. Kamruzzaman, Md. & Giles-Corti, Billie & De Vos, Jonas & Witlox, Frank & Shatu, Farjana & Turrell, Gavin, 2021. "The life and death of residential dissonants in transit-oriented development: A discrete time survival analysis," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    10. Van Acker, Veronique & Ho, Loan & Stevens, Larissa & Mulley, Corinne, 2020. "Quantifying the effects of childhood and previous residential experiences on the use of public transport," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    11. Guan, Xiaodong & Wang, Donggen, 2019. "Influences of the built environment on travel: A household-based perspective," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 710-724.
    12. Rahman, Mashrur & Sciara, Gian-Claudia, 2022. "Travel attitudes, the built environment and travel behavior relationships: Causal insights from social psychology theories," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 44-54.
    13. Ding, Chuan & Wang, Donggen & Liu, Chao & Zhang, Yi & Yang, Jiawen, 2017. "Exploring the influence of built environment on travel mode choice considering the mediating effects of car ownership and travel distance," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 65-80.
    14. Kajosaari, Anna & Hasanzadeh, Kamyar & Kyttä, Marketta, 2019. "Residential dissonance and walking for transport," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 134-144.
    15. Van Acker, Veronique & Witlox, Frank, 2010. "Car ownership as a mediating variable in car travel behaviour research using a structural equation modelling approach to identify its dual relationship," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 65-74.
    16. Tae-Hyoung Tommy Gim, 2023. "Residential self-selection or socio-ecological interaction? the effects of sociodemographic and attitudinal characteristics on the built environment–travel behavior relationship," Transportation, Springer, vol. 50(4), pages 1347-1398, August.
    17. Ao, Yibin & Yang, Dujuan & Chen, Chuan & Wang, Yan, 2019. "Exploring the effects of the rural built environment on household car ownership after controlling for preference and attitude: Evidence from Sichuan, China," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 24-36.
    18. van de Coevering, Paul & Maat, Kees & van Wee, Bert, 2021. "Causes and effects between attitudes, the built environment and car kilometres: A longitudinal analysis," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    19. Sabreena Anowar & Naveen Eluru & Luis F. Miranda-Moreno, 2014. "Alternative Modeling Approaches Used for Examining Automobile Ownership: A Comprehensive Review," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(4), pages 441-473, July.
    20. Emine Coruh & Faruk Urak & Abdulbaki Bilgic & Steven T. Yen, 2022. "The role of household demographic factors in shaping transportation spending in Turkey," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(3), pages 3485-3517, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jotrge:v:91:y:2021:i:c:s0966692321000363. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-transport-geography .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.