Jonas De Vos

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.

Analysing the effect of trip satisfaction on satisfaction with the leisure activity at the destination of the trip, in relationship with life satisfaction

Previous studies have indicated that positive (or negative) experiences of activity episodes are likely to correlate with positive (or negative) evaluations of a persons’ life. An accumulation of short-term experiences can positively or negatively affect life satisfaction, while it is also plausible that this long-term satisfaction affects emotions experienced during an activity. In this study we analyse how (1) satisfaction with a trip towards the most recent leisure activity, (2) satisfaction with that activity and (3) life satisfaction are correlated with each other, by executing a structural equation modelling approach. Results of this study—using data from a cross-sectional survey of 1213 respondents residing in the city of Ghent (Belgium)—suggest that life satisfaction has an important effect on both travel satisfaction and activity satisfaction. On the other hand, there seems to be a stronger effect from activity satisfaction on life satisfaction than from travel satisfaction on life satisfaction, suggesting that travel satisfaction mainly has an indirect effect on life satisfaction, through participation in—and satisfaction with—leisure activities.

Urban sprawl: neighbourhood dissatisfaction and urban preferences. Some evidence from Flanders

ABSTRACT Early studies suggest that people living in rural neighbourhoods are more satisfied with their residential location than people living in cities. Consequently, most individuals seem to prefer low-density environments to reside in. More recent studies, however, state that rural residents are no more likely to be satisfied with their residential neighbourhood than their urban counterparts. In addition, a considerable, growing part of the population seems to have a clear preference for urban neighbourhoods. The results of our research, conducted in Flanders, Belgium, suggest that urbanites are more satisfied with their neighbourhood than rural residents are. Neighbourhood preferences differ less between urbanites and rural residents. However, there are differences indicating that urbanites have a preference for rural neighbourhoods and rural residents a preference for urban neighbourhoods. In sum, it seems that people, once they have selected their residential location, are not satisfied with the neighbourhood characteristics and tend to develop a preference for a different neighbourhood type. This mismatch can be partly explained by the strongly developed urban sprawl in Flanders, reducing the residential qualities of urban and especially rural environments. Restricting further urban sprawl, with the help of a more active spatial planning policy, seems necessary to increase neighbourhood satisfaction.

Satisfaction with Leisure Trips: Findings from Ghent, Belgium

Recently, studies have started analysing how people perceive their travel and how satisfied they are with it. This travel satisfaction − i.e., the mood during trips and the evaluation of these trips – can be affected by trip characteristics, such as the used travel mode and trip duration. In this study – analysing leisure trips of 1720 respondents living in the city of Ghent (Belgium) − we do not only look at the effect of trip characteristics on travel satisfaction, but also on the effects of travel-related attitudes and the residential location on travel satisfaction, both singly and each controlling for the other. The latter makes it possible to analyse whether people who live in their preferred neighbourhood based on travel preferences (e.g., car lovers living in suburban-type of neighbourhoods) are more satisfied than people who do not. Furthermore, this chapter also explores possible outcomes of travel satisfaction. It is possible that satisfying trips with a certain travel mode increase the chance of choosing that mode for future trips of the same kind, whether or not indirect through changes in attitudes. Repetitive positively or negatively perceived trips might also affect longer-term well-being, such as life satisfaction, both directly and indirectly through the performance of − and satisfaction with − activities at the destination of the trip. On the other hand, life satisfaction can also influence people’s satisfaction with short-term activity episodes, such as satisfaction with leisure trips and activities.

From Karl Marx to bumper stickers

review of Giuseppina Pellegrino, ed. The politics of proximity (Farnham: Ashgate, 2011) 157 pp.