Giancarlos Troncoso Parady

Connection Between Built Environment and Travel Behavior: Propensity Score Approach Under a Continuous Treatment Regime

In recent years, the compact city concept has become a paradigm of sustainable urban development under the premise that mixed-use, high-density cities can significantly reduce automobile dependency and promote the use of alternative modes. This claim, however, hinges on the existence of a true causal mechanism between the built environment and travel behavior. This study tackled the causality problem by using a propensity score approach but differed from previous studies in that this study relaxed the binary treatment assumption (i.e., urban versus suburban) and assumed a continuous treatment of urbanization level, estimated as a latent variable. Methodologically, the propensity score stratification method used was successful in mitigating residential self-selection bias on estimates of the effect of the built environment on nonwork trip frequency and traveled distance. Overestimation ranges for the direct regression estimates against the estimates stratified on the propensity score ranged from 6% to 36%. Findings suggested the existence of a causal mode substitution mechanism from car to nonmotorized modes given positive increases in the latent score of urbanization level.

Accounting for spatial correlation in tsunami evacuation destination choice: a case study of the Great East Japan Earthquake

This article analyzes the tsunami evacuation destination choice process, using as a case study the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011. The contribution of this article is twofold. First, it sheds some light on the choice mechanism behind tsunami evacuation destination choice, an understudied aspect of the evacuation process. Second, and from a theoretical perspective, it addresses the issue of spatial correlation in discrete choice models. A spatially correlated logit model is estimated, where the allocation parameter is specified as a function of proximity and inter-zone altitude difference to capture more adequately unobserved similarities among alternatives in the specific context of tsunami evacuation.