Exploring the causal effects of the built environment on travel behavior: a unique randomized experiment in Shanghai
Experimental designs have been recognized as the gold standard for establishing causal mechanisms. However, the application of such designs is complicated by factors such as excessive costs, time consumption, ethical concerns, and political impossibility. Nevertheless, the Chinese government’s repla...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Springer US
2024
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/153292 |
| _version_ | 1826196311194468352 |
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| author | Chen, Faan Costa, Adriano B. |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Urban Studies and Planning |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Urban Studies and Planning Chen, Faan Costa, Adriano B. |
| author_sort | Chen, Faan |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Experimental designs have been recognized as the gold standard for establishing causal mechanisms. However, the application of such designs is complicated by factors such as excessive costs, time consumption, ethical concerns, and political impossibility. Nevertheless, the Chinese government’s replacement housing efforts provide a unique randomized experiment for exploring the causal effects of the built environment on travel behavior. Accordingly, based on a large-scale survey on travel patterns under an experimental design in Shanghai, this study employs a two-step modeling approach, involving logit and Tobit models, to identify the built environment’s effects on auto ownership and vehicle kilometers traveled (VKT). We found that transit service improvements play a stronger role in reducing auto-drive than compact and diverse land-use characteristics. Increasing residential and employment density, as well as land-use mix, discourages car ownership, which in turn reduces VKT, but with lower elasticities than transportation system variables. The findings provide additional evidence and referential estimate for how land-use and transport strategies and policies designed to create a compact, mixed-use, and highly accessible built environment can be used in reducing auto driving. This study expands the VKT reduction elasticities’ database regarding the built environment across global spatial contexts, serving as a model for similar studies elsewhere in the world. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T10:24:34Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/153292 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T10:24:34Z |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| publisher | Springer US |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1532922024-07-11T19:48:04Z Exploring the causal effects of the built environment on travel behavior: a unique randomized experiment in Shanghai Chen, Faan Costa, Adriano B. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Urban Studies and Planning Experimental designs have been recognized as the gold standard for establishing causal mechanisms. However, the application of such designs is complicated by factors such as excessive costs, time consumption, ethical concerns, and political impossibility. Nevertheless, the Chinese government’s replacement housing efforts provide a unique randomized experiment for exploring the causal effects of the built environment on travel behavior. Accordingly, based on a large-scale survey on travel patterns under an experimental design in Shanghai, this study employs a two-step modeling approach, involving logit and Tobit models, to identify the built environment’s effects on auto ownership and vehicle kilometers traveled (VKT). We found that transit service improvements play a stronger role in reducing auto-drive than compact and diverse land-use characteristics. Increasing residential and employment density, as well as land-use mix, discourages car ownership, which in turn reduces VKT, but with lower elasticities than transportation system variables. The findings provide additional evidence and referential estimate for how land-use and transport strategies and policies designed to create a compact, mixed-use, and highly accessible built environment can be used in reducing auto driving. This study expands the VKT reduction elasticities’ database regarding the built environment across global spatial contexts, serving as a model for similar studies elsewhere in the world. 2024-01-09T21:49:33Z 2024-01-09T21:49:33Z 2022-08-29 2024-01-06T04:16:14Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/153292 Chen, F., Costa, A.B. Exploring the causal effects of the built environment on travel behavior: a unique randomized experiment in Shanghai. Transportation 51, 215–245 (2024). en https://doi.org/10.1007/s11116-022-10325-5 Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature application/pdf Springer US Springer US |
| spellingShingle | Chen, Faan Costa, Adriano B. Exploring the causal effects of the built environment on travel behavior: a unique randomized experiment in Shanghai |
| title | Exploring the causal effects of the built environment on travel behavior: a unique randomized experiment in Shanghai |
| title_full | Exploring the causal effects of the built environment on travel behavior: a unique randomized experiment in Shanghai |
| title_fullStr | Exploring the causal effects of the built environment on travel behavior: a unique randomized experiment in Shanghai |
| title_full_unstemmed | Exploring the causal effects of the built environment on travel behavior: a unique randomized experiment in Shanghai |
| title_short | Exploring the causal effects of the built environment on travel behavior: a unique randomized experiment in Shanghai |
| title_sort | exploring the causal effects of the built environment on travel behavior a unique randomized experiment in shanghai |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/153292 |
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