Location-Type Choice for Face-to-Face Social Activities and its Effect on Travel Behavior

Pauline van den Berg, Theo Arentze and Harry Timmermans

Environment and Planning B, 2010, vol. 37, issue 6, 1057-1075

Abstract: Face-to-face social activities, such as joint activities with friends or visiting relatives, involve meeting with other persons at a certain time and location. This (social) spatial-choice behavior is critical for successful urban planning. Recently there has been a rapid emergence of research into social interactions in the field of urban planning and transport. This study contributes to our understanding of the relationships between face-to-face social interaction, location-type choice, and travel by presenting analyses based on social-contact diary data gathered for this study in a large-scale survey conducted in the Netherlands. The analysis framework consists of a set of linked linear regression and discrete choice models to predict the location-type choice for a given face-to-face social interaction, the distance to that location, and the transport mode. Furthermore, the model predicts outcomes of a chain of higher-level decisions including the number of face-to-face interactions and the purpose of the interaction. As independent variables, the model system includes sociodemographic and spatial variables. The results indicate that, to a moderate extent the number of face-to-face social interactions, the purpose of the interactions, and the travel distance can be explained by people's personal and residential variables. These variables have a strong impact on the type of location for the interaction and the transport mode used to get there.

Date: 2010
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1068/b36019 (text/html)

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:sae:envirb:v:37:y:2010:i:6:p:1057-1075

DOI: 10.1068/b36019

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Environment and Planning B
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().