Residential Location and Travel in the Reykjavik Capital Region

Petter Næss, Harpa Stefansdottir, Sebastian Peters, Michał Czepkiewicz and Jukka Heinonen
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Petter Næss: Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, 1432 Ås, Norway
Harpa Stefansdottir: Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, 1432 Ås, Norway
Sebastian Peters: Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, 1432 Ås, Norway
Michał Czepkiewicz: Faculty of Sociology, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, 61-712 Poznań, Poland
Jukka Heinonen: Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Iceland, 102 Reykjavik, Iceland

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 12, 1-31

Abstract: This article presents findings from a mixed-methods study on residential location and travel in the Reykjavik capital region, Iceland, drawing on a combination of a tailor-made questionnaire survey and in-depth qualitative interviews, including cross-sectional and before–after analyses. A residential location close to the main city center of Reykjavik contributes to shorter travel distances and lower shares of car travel. The effect of proximity to the city center is particularly strong for commuting but exists for non-work travel and overall car-driving distances too. There are also effects of proximity to a main second-order center and local centers and of local-area population density, but these effects apply to fewer aspects of travel. The rationales for location of activities and travel mode choice identified in the qualitative interviews explain why travel distances and modes tend to depend more on proximity to the main city center than on neighborhood-scale built environment characteristics. The main patterns found in the Reykjavik area are in line with findings in several earlier studies in the Nordic countries and elsewhere. However, through its methodological approach, the investigation adds to the few studies on the topic where results are underpinned by combined qualitative and quantitative methods and inclusion of before–after analyses.

Keywords: residential location; travel; mixed-methods; quantitative; qualitative; before–after; Reykjavik (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:12:p:6714-:d:574379

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