Residential self-selection, built environment, and travel behavior in the Chinese context

Abstract

Residential self-selection has been reported to be a factor confounding the observed relationship between built environment and travel behavior. By incorporating residential self-selection, studies have generated much insight into the causalities involved in the relationship between built environment and travel behavior. However, most of these studies were conducted in North American cities, where individuals may have the opportunity to realize their preferences in residential and transport mode choices. There are not many similar studies for other parts of the world, such as China, where residential and transport choices are probably more constrained than in North America. This paper aims to partly fill the gap by discussing the specificities of the residential self-selection issue in urban China and suggesting how to cope with this issue when examining the relationship between built environment and travel behavior in the Chinese context. We argue that studies addressing the residential self-selection issue in China need to consider the housing source, which has implications for residential choice, and acknowledge the importance of some travel-related attitudes such as preferences for short commutes, good accessibility to public transport, and proximity to markets for daily goods shopping.