After decades of research, a host of analytical difficulties is still hindering our understanding of the influences of the built form on travel. The main challenges are (a) assembling good quality data that reflects the majority of the known influences and that supports continuous monitoring, and (b) making sense methodologically of the many variables which strongly intercorrelate. This study uses the UK national travel survey (NTS) data that is among the most comprehensive of its form in the world. The fact that it has rarely been used so far for this purpose may be attributable to the methodological difficulties. This dissertation aims to develop a new analytical framework based on extended structural equation models (SEMs) in order to overcome some of the key methodological difficulties in quantifying the influences of the built form on travel, and in addition to provide a means to continuously monitor any changes in the effects over time. The analyses are focused on employed adults, because they are not only the biggest UK population segment with the highest per capita travel demand, but also the segment that are capable of adapting more rapidly to changing land use, built form and transport supply conditions. The research is pursued through three new models. Model 1 is a path diagram coupled with factor analyses, which estimates continuous, categorical and binary dependent variables. The model estimates the influences on travel distance, time and trip frequency by trip purpose while accounting for self-selection, spatial sorting, endogeneity of car ownership, and interactions among trip purposes. The results highlight stark differences among commuters, particularly the mobility disadvantages of women, part time and non-car owning workers even when they live in the most accessible urban areas. Model 2 incorporates latent categorisation analyses in order to identify a tangible typology of the built form and the associated variations in impacts on travel. Identifying NTS variables as descriptors for tangible built form categories provides an improved basis for investigating land use and transport planning interventions. The model reveals three distinct built form categories in the UK with striking variations in the patterns of influences. Model 3 further investigates the variations across the built form categories. The resulting random intercept SEM provides a more precise quantification of the influences of self-selection and spatial sorting across the built form categories for each socioeconomic group. Four research areas are highlighted for further studies: First, new preference, attitude and behavioural parameters may be introduced through incorporating non-NTS behavioural surveys; Second, the new SEMs provide a basis for incorporating choice modelling where the utility function is defined with direct, indirect and latent variables; Third, conceptual and methodological developments – such as non-parametric latent class analysis, allow expanding the current model to monitor changes in travel behaviour as and when new NTS or non NTS data become available. Fourth, the robustness of the inferences regarding causal or directional influences may require further quantification through designing new panel data sets, building on the findings above.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:725568 |
| Date | January 2017 |
| Creators | Jahanshahi, Kaveh |
| Contributors | Jin, Ying |
| Publisher | University of Cambridge |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/267841 |
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