The built environment and trip chaining behaviour revisited: The joint effects of the modifiable areal unit problem and tour purpose

Urban Studies ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 56 (4) ◽  
pp. 795-817 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liya Yang ◽  
Lingqian Hu ◽  
Zhenbo Wang
Keyword(s):  
Urban Planning ◽  
Built Environment ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
Travel Behaviour ◽  
Modifiable Areal Unit Problem ◽  
Areal Unit ◽  
Trip Chaining ◽  
Logistic Regressions ◽  
Beijing China ◽  
The Ideal

Empirical research that examines the built environment and travel behaviour has frequently found inconsistent results, which can be attributed to the modifiable areal unit problem (MAUP) and to different treatments of travel purposes. This study considers these two important issues simultaneously in investigating the association between the built environment and travel behaviour in Beijing, China. Using tours as the analysis unit of travel, this study classifies three tour purposes: subsistence, maintenance and recreation, and identifies seven different spatial units to address the MAUP. Based on data from the 2010 Beijing Comprehensive Travel Survey, this study uses logistic regressions to estimate the primary tour mode and tour complexity. The results identify the ‘ideal’ unit at which the built environment has the greatest association with tours of specific purposes. Such results inform how urban planning and transportation policies can effectively influence travel.

Conclusion

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul D. Webb ◽  
Thomas Poguntke ◽  
Susan E. Scarrow
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Research ◽  
Ideal Type ◽  
Representative Democracy ◽  
Party Organization ◽  
Ideal Types ◽  
Practical Guide ◽  
Organizational Patterns ◽  
Key Dimensions ◽  
Analytical Frameworks ◽  
The Ideal

This chapter briefly recaps the findings of this volume, then addresses more general questions concerning the types of organizational patterns that researchers should expect to find, and the most fruitful approaches to understanding the origins and implications of those patterns. The authors review the PPDB data in order to assess the empirical applicability of various well-known ideal-types of parties. They find that only a minority of the cases in the dataset fit into one of these ideal-type categories—even when the bar is set low for such classification. It is argued that the ideal-type approach, while it has its merits, is less useful as a practical guide for empirical research than analytical frameworks based on the key dimensions of party organization—resources, structures, and representational strategies. The chapter closes by emphasizing the very real consequences that the organizational choices made by parties can have for representative democracy.

scholarly journals Exploring the Modifiable Areal Unit Problem in Spatial Water Assessments: A Case of Water Shortage in Monsoon Asia

Water ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (12) ◽  
pp. 898-917 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aura Salmivaara ◽  
Miina Porkka ◽  
Matti Kummu ◽  
Marko Keskinen ◽  
Joseph Guillaume ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Shortage ◽  
Modifiable Areal Unit Problem ◽  
Areal Unit ◽  
Monsoon Asia

scholarly journals Parking facilities and the built environment: Impacts on travel behaviour

2017 ◽  
Vol 95 ◽  
pp. 198-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Petter Christiansen ◽  
Øystein Engebretsen ◽  
Nils Fearnley ◽  
Jan Usterud Hanssen
Keyword(s):  
Built Environment ◽  
Travel Behaviour ◽  
Parking Facilities

Metrics of Urban Form and the Modifiable Areal Unit Problem

2005 ◽  
Vol 1902 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ming Zhang ◽  
Nishant Kukadia
Keyword(s):  
Data Aggregation ◽  
Urban Form ◽  
Mode Choice ◽  
Empirical Modeling ◽  
Modifiable Areal Unit Problem ◽  
Areal Unit ◽  
Block Level ◽  
A Cell ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Network Pattern

There is growing interest in incorporating urban form indicators into transportation planning and travel analysis. These indicators typically are measured at a certain level of spatial aggregation (e.g., traffic analysis zone) and therefore are subject to the modifiable areal unit problem (MAUP) known primarily in the statistical and geographic literature but generally overlooked by transportation researchers. The presence of the MAUP can cause serious inconsistency in analytical results and consequently misinform policy making. This study diagnoses the MAUP in measuring urban form through empirical modeling of travel mode choice in the Boston, Massachusetts, region. Using data aggregated in grids with five cell sizes and at the transportation analysis zone, the census block group, and the block level, the study explores the sensitivity of coefficient estimates for population density, network pattern, and land use balance to data aggregation in predicting mode choice decisions. Having confirmed the presence of the MAUP, the study discusses three approaches for dealing with it. Using a grid with a cell size of 1/2 mi appears to be the most desirable method of data aggregation among the eight methods studied. The suggested improvements in methodology will help advance the inquiry on the link between urban form and travel.

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