Notwithstanding the extensive amount of research that exists on the strenght of the relationship between land use and travel behaviour, a consensus has not been reached yet. One possible explanation may be the existence of a wide range of influencing variables. Previous research assumed that the explaining variables are not influencing each other, thus ignoring the indirect effect of them on travel behaviour. Clearly, handling a wide range of explanatory variables and multiple directions of influence requires more sophisticated research techniques. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) seems to be useful here. Although SEM is a research technique dating from the 1970s, applications involving travel behaviour from the perspective of land use remain scarce. Therefore, this paper adds some new evidence to the research debate. Our preliminary analysis indicates that socio-economic characteristics influence travel behaviour to a greater extent than land use does. Furthermore, indirect effects remain important to entangle the complexity of travel behaviour (Author/publisher)
Abstract