Epilogue: the new frontiers of behavioral research on the interrelationships between ICT, activities, time use and mobility

Eran Ben-Elia,Patricia L Mokhtarian,Glenn Lyons

doi:10.1007/s11116-018-9871-x

Abstract

This special issue is a product of the international symposium on “ICT, Activities, Time Use and Travel” that was hosted by Nanjing University from 16 to 18 July 2016. The symposium brought together leading scholars from all over the world to congregate with Chinese scholars and students and to share and discuss the research frontiers at this nexus. It was motivated by a recognition of the changing goals and scope of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) research in conjunction with the development of new ICTs and the emergence of new ICT-enabled behaviors. Consequently, the symposium and later this special issue have drawn together significant scholarly contributions that provide new behavioral insights as well as new theoretical and methodological advances. The symposium culminated in three roundtable panel discussions addressing the following cross-cutting themes: (1) time use while travelling (led by Glenn Lyons); (2) ICT and travel behavior (led by Pat Mokhtarian); and (3) Big Data, activities and urban space (led by Eran Ben-Elia). In this epilogue to the special issue we offer a distillation of these discussions.

Highlights

1.4 How should we study travel time use? It should be apparent that what might seem a more defined topic within the broader arena of ICTs and travel behavior is complex and multi-faceted
Greater understanding of travel time use has the prospect of informing a number of important aspects of how our transport system design and use are evolving over time and as such should be seen as an area of ongoing importance
It seems plausible that it could be increasingly identified as a research field in its own right and one which is characterized by interdisciplinary working in pursuit of understanding and influencing how the digital age is shaping our mobile lives

Summary

Time use while travelling

For many years, has all but ignored the question of how people use their time while they travel. May be significant to examine, for instance in terms of how physical exertion frames time use and experience Their environments very much concern the built environment that a journey passes through as distinct from the interior environment of a passenger vehicle. It should be apparent that what might seem a more defined topic within the broader arena of ICTs and travel behavior is complex and multi-faceted It follows that a number of approaches are required in the study of travel time and an array of different methodologies have already been applied in terms of data collection (e.g. Watts and Urry, 2008; Russell et al, 2011). While there may a tendency for competition and the parallel development of different constituencies of study, if travel time use has the makings of a ‘wicked problem’ a co-operative not competitive approach is called for

Conclusion

ICT and behavior

This is not THE END but just the beginning