Browsing by Subject "Residential location"

Now showing 1 - 8 of 8
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Estimating bid-auction models of residential location using census data with imputed household income
    (Journal of Transport and Land Use, 2018) Heldt, Benjamin; Donoso, Pedro; Bahamonde-Birke, Francisco; Heinrichs, Dirk
    Modeling residential location as a key component of the land-use system is essential to understand the relationship between land use and transport. The increasing availability of censuses such as the German Zensus 2011 has enabled residential location to be modeled with a large number of observations, presenting both opportunities and challenges. Censuses are statistically highly representative; however, they often lack variables such as income or mobility-related attributes as in the case of Zensus 2011. This is particularly problematic if missing variables define utility or willingness-to-pay functions that characterize choice options in a location model. One example for this is household income, which is an indispensable variable in land use models because it influences household location preferences and defines affordable location options. For estimating bid-auction location models for different income groups, we impute household income in census data applying an ordered regression model. We find that location models considering this imputation perform sufficiently well as they reveal reasonable and expected aspects of the location patterns. In general, imputing choice variables should thus be considered in the estimation of residential location models but is also promising for other decision problems. Comparing results for two imputation methods, we also show that while applying the deterministic first preference imputation may yield misleading results the probabilistic Monte Carlo simulation is the correct imputation approach.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Examining the Impacts of Residential Self-Selection On Travel Behavior: Methodologies and Empirical Findings
    (University of Minnesota Center for Transportation Studies, 2008-10) Cao, X.(J.); Mokhtarian, P.L.; Handy, S.L.
    Numerous studies have found that suburban residents drive more and walk less than residents in traditional neighborhoods. What is less well understood is the extent to which the observed patterns of travel behavior can be attributed to the residential built environment itself, as opposed to the prior self-selection of residents into a built environment that is consistent with their predispositions toward certain travel modes and land use configurations. To date, most studies addressing this attitudinal self-selection issue fall into nine categories: direct questioning, statistical control, instrumental variables models, sample selection models, propensity score, joint discrete choice models, structural equations models, mutually-dependent discrete choice models, and longitudinal designs. This report reviews and evaluates these alternative approaches. Virtually all of the 38 empirical studies reviewed found a statistically significant influence of the built environment remaining after self-selection was accounted for. However, the practical importance of that influence was seldom assessed. Although time and resource limitations are recognized, we recommend usage of longitudinal structural equations modeling with control groups, a design which is strong with respect to all causality requisites.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The impact of the residential built environment on work at home adoption and frequency: An example from Northern California
    (Journal of Transport and Land Use, 2011) Tang, Wei (Laura); Mokhtarian, Patricia; Handy, Susan
    Working at home is widely viewed as a useful travel-reduction strategy, and it is partly for that reason that considerable research related to telecommuting and home-based work has been conducted in the last two decades. This study examines the effect of residential neighborhood built environment (BE) factors on working at home. After systematically presenting and categorizing various relevant elements of the BE and reviewing related studies, we develop a multinomial logit (MNL) model of work-at-home (WAH) frequency using data from a survey of eight neighborhoods in Northern California. Potential explanatory variables include sociodemographic traits, neighborhood preferences and perceptions, objective neighborhood characteristics, and travel attitudes and behavior. The results clearly demonstrate the contribution of built environment variables to WAH choices, in addition to previously-identified influences such as sociodemographic predictors and com- mute time. BE factors associated with (neo)traditional neighborhoods were associated both positively and negatively with working at home. The findings suggest that land use and transportation strategies that are desirable from some perspectives will tend to weaken the motivation to work at home, and conversely, some factors that seem to increase the motivation to work at home are widely viewed as less sustainable. Accordingly, this research points to the complexity of trying to find the right balance among demand management strategies that sometimes act in competition rather than in synergy.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The Influences of the Hiawatha LRT on Changes in Travel Behavior: A Retrospective Study on Movers
    (Center for Transportation Studies, University of Minnesota, 2015-11) Cao, Jason; Ermagun, Alireza
    Following scant evidence for the effects of proximity to rail transit on auto use, we pinpoint the impacts of rail transit and neighborhood characteristics on both transit and car use in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area. In this vein, we apply the structural equations modeling approach on 597 residents who moved into the Hiawatha light rail transit (LRT) corridor after it opened. Using a quasi-longitudinal design to compare the behavior of movers into the Hiawatha and control corridors, we found that the Hiawatha LRT acts as both a catalyst and a magnet. Movers into the Hiawatha corridor experience transit improvement, which increases transit use and reduces car use. The LRT also enables transit-liking people who were unable to realize their preference previously to relocate near the LRT. However, the LRT has no significant effects on changes in auto ownership. This suggests that besides transit infrastructure, planners should promote transit-friendly neighborhood characteristics.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    ‘New urbanism’ or metropolitan-level centralization? A comparison of the influences of metropolitan-level and neighborhood-level urban form characteristics on travel behavior
    (Journal of Transport and Land Use, 2011) Naess, Petter
    Based on a study in the Copenhagen Metropolitan Area, this paper compares the influences of macro-level and micro-level urban form characteristics on the respondents’ traveling distance by car on weekdays. The Copenhagen study shows that metropolitan-scale urban- structural variables generally exert stronger influences than neighborhood-scale built-environment characteristics on the amount of car travel. In particular, the location of the residence relative to the main city center of the metropolitan region shows a strong effect. Some local scale variables often described as influential in the literature, such as neighborhood street pattern, show no significant effect on car travel when provisions are made to control for the location of the dwelling relative to the city center.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Residential location, travel, and energy use in the Hangzhou Metropolitan Area
    (Journal of Transport and Land Use, 2010) Naess, Petter
    This paper presents the results of a study examining the influence of residential location on travel behavior in the Hangzhou Metropolitan Area, China. The location of the dwelling relative to the center hierarchy of the metropolitan area is found to exert a considerable influence on the travel behavior of the respondents. On average, living close to the center of Hangzhou contributes to less overall travel, a higher proportion of trips by bicycle and on foot, and lower consumption of energy for transport. The location of the dwelling relative to the closest second-order and third-order center also influences travel, but not to the same extent as proximity to the city center. These geographical differences in travel behavior are independent of residential preferences and of attitudes toward transport and environmental issues, and therefore cannot be explained by residential self-selection.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The Role of Employment Subcenters in Residential Location Decisions
    (Journal of Transport and Land Use, 2008) Cho, Eun Joo; Rodriguez, Daniel A.; Song, Yan
    In this paper we employ Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, a polycentric city with 10 employment subcenters, as a case study to explore the role of employment subcenters in determining residential location decisions. We estimate discrete choice models of residential location decisions: conditional logit models and heteroscedastic logit models with both the full choice set and sampled choices. We find that access to certain employment subcenters, measured in terms of generalized cost, is an important determinant of households’ residential location decisions. The proximity to specific employment subcenters varies across households with different income levels. These patterns can be explained by existing land use and transportation patterns, as well as by subcenters’ economic specialization.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Social Networks and ICT in Location Choice
    (University of Minnesota Center for Transportation Studies, 2009-08) Tilahun, Nebiyou; Levinson, David
    Humans are social animals. We routinely interact with others learning about one another, about places, where to go and what places to avoid. Our activities are coordinated with others; sometimes because we explicitly seek to physically meet with those we know personally, other times the coordination is systemic because of norms and requirements of when those activities can take place (e.g. shopping when the shops are open etc.). With those personally known, interactions serve to exchange information, form social bonds and to create social support systems. With in the transportation realm, the social dimension comes into play in different ways. Two or more people who want to meet face to face have to select a meeting location and travel to that destination. People can also learn about short-term activity locations, or about residences and workplaces through others and make location decisions based upon them. These two areas of social contacts' influence in the location choice is the topic of this report. The report looks into how job search methods can impact home and work location patterns at the aggregate level. It also investigates the role job search methods and their outcomes play in subsequent relocation and residential location decisions at the individual level. A third element that will be considered is the relationship between home, work and activity locations for social meetings. The roles of social networks are explored in work finding, residential location choice, and choices of meeting locations.