Effects of Built Environment on People’s Travel Behavior in Nanchang, China

Abstract

This research analyzes the impacts of different urban built environment factors on the people's varied travel behavior so that to find out ways to alleviate the problem caused by high urban motorization in medium-sized cities in China. This paper takes Nanchang City, a medium-sized and traditional city in China, as an example. Nanchang City is ongoing development and its built environment is changing dramatically. Based on a questionnaire survey data of people's travel behavior in Nanchang City, a Multinomial Logit model MNL model) and a seemingly unrelated regression model SURE model) were employed to capture the effects of urban environment on people's travel modes, travel time and travel frequency, separately. According to the analysis results, corresponding strategies and policies are proposed to reduce the motorization level of people's travel. This study provides decision-making implications for land use and transportation planning development in medium-sized cities in China future.