Frank Witlox

When Transport Geography Meets Social Psychology: Toward a Conceptual Model of Travel Behaviour

Abstract Many studies model the effects of the built environment on travel behaviour. Usually, results are controlled for socio‐economic differences and sometimes socio‐psychological differences among respondents. However, these studies do not mention why after all a relationship should exist between travel behaviour and spatial, socio‐economic and personality characteristics. Answering this query involves combining and linking theories stemming from transport geography (e.g. time geography, activity‐based approach) and social psychology (e.g. Theory of Planned Behaviour, Theory of Repeated Behaviour). Using key‐variables from these theories, this paper aims to develop a conceptual model for travel behaviour. Comparable to customary theories in transport geography, this conceptual model considers travel behaviour as derived from locational behaviour and activity behaviour. But the conceptual model adds concepts such as ‘lifestyle’, ‘perceptions’, ‘attitudes’ and ‘preferences’ which indirectly influence travel behaviour.

An appraisal of the use of airline data in assessing the world city network: A research note on data

Information on air passenger flows is potentially a prime data source for assessing spatial patterns in the world city network, but previous analyses of this issue have been hampered by inadequate and/or partial data. The ensuing analytical deficiencies have reduced the overall value of these analyses. Therefore, this paper examines how some of these deficiencies might be rectified. First, it reviews the rationale for using airline data to analyse the world city network. Secondly, it assesses the problems encountered by previous research. The third section elaborates on the construction of a global intercity matrix based on the so-called Marketing Information Data Transfer database and explains how this matrix can circumvent some previously identified problems.

Pathways of Change: Shifting Connectivities in the World City Network, 2000—08

This is an empirical paper that measures and interprets changes in intercity relations at the global scale in the period 2000—08. It draws on the network model devised by the Globalization and World Cities (GaWC) research group to measure global connectivities for 132 cities across the world in 2000 and 2008. The measurements for both years are adjusted so that a coherent set of services/cities is used. A range of statistical techniques is used to explore these changes at the city level and the regional scale. The most notable changes are: the general rise of connectivity in the world city network; the loss of global connectivity of US and sub-Saharan African cities (Los Angeles, San Francisco and Miami in particular); and, the gain in global connectivity of south Asian, Chinese and eastern European cities (Shanghai, Beijing and Moscow in particular).

Travel and Subjective Well-Being: A Focus on Findings, Methods and Future Research Needs

Subjectively experienced well-being has recently attracted increased attention in transport and mobility studies. However, these studies are still in their infancy and many of the multifarious links between travel behaviour and well-being are still under-examined; most studies only focus on one aspect of this link (i.e. travel satisfaction). In this paper, we give an overview of studies concerning travel and well-being, focusing on results, methods and gaps in present research. We suggest that travel behaviour affects well-being through experiences during (destination-oriented) travel, activity participation enabled by travel, activities during (destination-oriented) travel, trips where travel is the activity and through potential travel (or motility). The majority of empirical studies to date have been based on hedonic views of well-being, where pleasure and satisfaction are seen as the ultimate goal in life. They have paid little attention to eudaimonic views of well-being, which emphasise the realisation of ones true potential, although this form of well-being can also be influenced by travel behaviour. We also argue that longer-term decisions, such as residential location choices, can affect well-being through travel. Travel options differ between different kinds of neighbourhoods, which can result in different levels of (feelings of) freedom and consequently different levels of subjective well-being. Since studies at present only show a subset of the travel behaviour–well-being interactions, we conclude the paper with an agenda for future research.

The Prism of Everyday Life: Towards a New Research Agenda for Time Geography

Abstract In light of the renewed attention for time geography in the transport modelling field in recent years, this paper provides a timely state‐of‐the‐art review of the contributions of the time‐geographic approach to the closely related research areas of transport planning and accessibility analysis. Specific attention will be devoted to the ways in which recent advances in time geography have deepened the understanding of human activities and travel possibilities in space and time. From this literature review, a detailed research agenda is derived and the latest research attempts to deal with lingering time‐geographic issues are discussed.

The Effects of the Land Use System on Travel Behavior: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach

Abstract Notwithstanding the extensive research that exists on the strength of the relationship between land use and travel behavior, a consensus has not yet been reached. One possible explanation may be the existence of a wide range of influencing variables. Previous research assumed that the explanatory variables were not influencing each other, thus ignoring the indirect effects on travel behavior. Clearly, handling a wide range of explanatory variables and multiple directions of influence requires more sophisticated research techniques. Structural equation modeling (SEM) seems to be useful here. Although SEM is a research technique dating from the 1970s, applications involving travel behavior from the perspective of land use remain scarce. Furthermore, evidence is mainly based on US data. Therefore, this paper adds some new evidence from a European perspective to the research debate. Our preliminary analysis indicates that socio-economic characteristics influence travel behavior to a greater extent than land use. Furthermore, indirect effects remain important to understand the complexity of travel behavior.

Global urban analysis : a survey of cities in globalization

Global Urban Analysis provides a unique insight into the contemporary world economy through a focus on cities. It is based upon a large-scale customized data collection on how leading businesses use cities across the world: as headquarter locations, for finance, for professional and creative services, for media. These data – involving up to 2000 firms and over 500 cities – provide evidence for both how the leading cities (sometimes called global cities) are coming to dominate the world economy and how hundreds of other cities are faring in this brave new urban world. Thus can the likes of London, New York and Hong Kong be tracked, as well as Manchester, Cleveland and Guangzhou, and even Plymouth, Chattanooga and Xi’an. Cities are assessed and ranked in terms of their importance for various functions such as for financial services, legal services and advertising, plus novel findings are reported for the geographical orientations of their connections.

Space-time opportunities for multiple agents: a constraint-based approach

Constraint‐based models and models constructing accessibility measures mainly focus on single agents having only one available transport mode. However, numerous cases exist where multiple agents or groups of individuals with different available transport modes want to participate in a joint activity at a certain location. The aim of this paper is to provide new insights into representing and reasoning about feasible space–time opportunities for multiple agents. Relying on concepts of time geography, we propose a conceptual framework in order to determine interaction spaces for groups of individuals. Besides availability of means of transport and the locations of each individual, minimum activity duration and opening hours of opportunities are taken into account. The reasoning about space and time is visualized in three dimensions using a hybrid (CAD/GIS) system.

A three-dimensional network-based space–time prism

Time-geographic concepts are effective tools for the geovisualization of human activity patterns and to assess individual accessibility. In their traditional form, however, time-geographic concepts assume uniform travel velocities in an isotropic and homogeneous space. Because transportation systems confine travellers to links of road and rail networks with time-varying flows, these premises are typically unsatisfied in real-world situations. This paper provides an innovative approach to ameliorate the realism and applicability of space–time prisms by developing new three-dimensional space–time objects. Three-dimensional solid models which account for non-uniform movement are discussed, and their usefulness is assessed and illustrated by means of an example.

Towards a modal shift in freight transport? A business logistics analysis of some policy measures

Abstract This paper analyses the effectiveness of policy measures aimed at triggering a modal shift in the freight transport market. The analysis is based on the inventory‐theoretic framework that studies modal choice from a business logistics viewpoint. The crux of the inventory‐theoretic approach lies in the fact that explicit attention is paid to all costs in the supply chain that are affected by the choice of transport mode. After a brief literature review on the inventory‐theoretic framework, the framework is used to calculate the market shares of different freight transport modes for a hypothetical transport market. In a second step, the impact of some policy measures on the market shares of the transport modes is calculated. By way of illustration, the analysis is applied to the market for container transport from a seaport to its hinterland. It is shown that a combination of certain policy measures can lead to significant modal shifts from road transport to intermodal transport.