The relationships between land use measures and travel behavior: a meta-analytic approach

Abstract

From a review of the literature on residential self-selection and spatial multicollinearity, this paper identifies the relationships that travel behavior has with three factors: land use, sociodemographics, and attitudes. It then analyzes the magnitude of the land use–travel behavior relationship by testing two meta-regression models. Each model specifies: (1) residential self-selection as a sociodemographic or attitudinal confounding factor in the land use–travel behavior relationship; and (2) spatial multicollinearity as a land use confounding variable. The first model shows that the land use factor is related to travel behavior more strongly than is residential self-selection. The second model finds that, among land use variables, accessibility to regional centers is most strongly related to travel behavior. Depending on the accessibility–travel behavior relationship, other land use variables are conditionally related to travel behavior. This finding implies that accessibility represents the overall effect of land use on travel behavior.