Modeling travel behavior and sense of place using a structural equation model

Kathleen Deutsch, Seo Youn Yoon and Konstadinos Goulias

Journal of Transport Geography, 2013, vol. 28, issue C, 155-163

Abstract: Understanding the way in which people conduct their daily activities is the central focus of travel behavior modelers. This often requires an understanding of the way in which people interact with their surroundings. Theorists have paid special attention to the interactions of people and place, specifically the endowment of meaning to places (termed sense of place). This work has a host of applications to explain different facets of behavior. Among these, travel behavior is a prime area for sense of place application due to the constant interaction of land use with transportation. In this paper, we explore relationships and examine sense of place using structural equations and derive six distinct factors representing unique dimensions of sense of place. The data used are from a 719-person survey of two shopping centers in Santa Barbara, California, specifically designed to measure sense of place. The factors extracted represent aspects of attachment – the bond between person and place, dependence – the strength of association between person and place, identity – the individual’s identity with respect to place, satisfaction- which corresponds to many of the services offered at each place, atmosphere – such as aesthetics and surrounding ambiance, and community – which highlights the views of the place as being family and kid friendly, or a place with kind or friendly people around. These factors are pilot tested as determinants in behavioral models of mode selection, sequencing of activities, and companionship during activities exhibiting substantial potential of explanatory power. This finding motivates a few additional research directions we outline in this paper.

Keywords: Sense of place; Travel behavior; Structural equation modeling (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0966692312002931

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jotrge:v:28:y:2013:i:c:p:155-163

DOI: 10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2012.12.001

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Transport Geography is currently edited by Frank Witlox

More articles in Journal of Transport Geography from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().