Exploring the role of daily ‘modality styles’ and urban structure in holidays and longer weekend trips: Travel behaviour of urban and peri-urban residents in Greater Copenhagen

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In the course of climate change and sustainable development, changing travel behaviour marks a cornerstone towards reducing the negative impacts of CO2-emissions and resource exploitation. The differences in daily travel (e.g., commute to work) between urban and peri-urban areas have been comprehensively researched. However, other travel domains (e.g., occasional weekend trips or holidays) have only recently received more attention, despite their environmental impact.
The paper investigates whether and how daily travel patterns (‘modality styles’) correspond with non-daily travel behaviour such as holidays and longer weekend trips in order to establish a more comprehensive understanding of the role of urban structure in travel behaviour across different travel domains.
The study is based on a questionnaire survey, which was conducted in an urban district in central Copenhagen and a small town in the commuter belt of Greater Copenhagen in spring 2016. First, we identify ‘modality styles’ by grouping the sample based on the respondents’ daily mode choices. Second, we relate the identified modality styles to socio-economic and socio-demographic factors, frequency and mode choice of longer weekend trips and holidays, and travel-related attitudes.
The results reveal that the urban structure of a residential location (e.g., urban vs. peri-urban) exerts to some extent influence on the constitution of daily modality styles. We found, furthermore, a tendency for more weekend trips and holidays among the urban sample; we interpret this as interdependency between modality style, residential location, car ownership/use, and plane use expressed in certain travel behaviour.
Original languageEnglish
JournalJournal of Transport Geography
Volume69
Pages (from-to)138-149
Number of pages12
ISSN0966-6923
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2018

ID: 195223535