Project Summary
Research on gender differences in travel behavior usually relies on national travel survey data, which contain a rich set of sociodemographic variables but only coarse land use characteristics. On the other hand, research on the link between land use and travel behavior lacks a gender angle, and therefore how do the impacts of land use on travel behavior differ between men and women is not typically considered. This dissertation aims to fill the gap in the literature by exploring simultaneously the interaction between land use and sociodemographic characteristics and its effects on gender differences in non-work travel behavior. Using a regional travel survey data with detailed land use and sociodemographic variables, the initial analysis shows that land use has greater impacts on women’s non-work trip frequency than men’s, and the impacts vary by women’s roles in households. For example, living in a neighborhood near a rail station can reduce the number of non-work trips of married women without children by 31 percent. These results suggest that land use might provide opportunities to mitigate women’s travel burdens which come from their gender roles in households, which in turn can contribute to more gender-equal transportation policy interventions.
