IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/envirb/v50y2023i9p2560-2578.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Walking alone or walking together: A spatial evaluation of children’s travel behavior to school

Author

Listed:
  • Greg Rybarczyk
  • Ayse Ozbil
  • Demet Yesiltepe
  • Gorsev Argin

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to extend our understanding of children’s walking behavior to school in an understudied region of the world, Istanbul, Turkey. Children (aged 11–17) and their parents were surveyed to comprehend subjective and objective factors on walking behavior to school when alone or with someone. Using participatory mapping and GIS, a route detour index was first created to highlight differences in walking behaviors. A robust spatial analysis, consisting of spatial statistics and a hierarchical spatial error model, then signified important survey responses, urban design factors from space syntax, and neighborhood composition and contextual variables on between-group route choices. Empirical and geovisual analysis confirmed that accompanied children deviated more from GIS shortest routes to school than their unaccompanied peers, and “hot-spot†analysis showed it was dependent on where children reside. The spatial error models exhibited notable relations among route choice, children’s age, health, and gender. Parent attitudes concerning greenspace positively affected children’s longer route choices, while street connectivity had the opposite influence. Surprisingly, neighborhood walkability did not impact children’s route choice decisions for either group. The results provide new insights on how to encourage additional walking trips to school.

Suggested Citation

  • Greg Rybarczyk & Ayse Ozbil & Demet Yesiltepe & Gorsev Argin, 2023. "Walking alone or walking together: A spatial evaluation of children’s travel behavior to school," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 50(9), pages 2560-2578, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envirb:v:50:y:2023:i:9:p:2560-2578
    DOI: 10.1177/23998083231161612
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/23998083231161612
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/23998083231161612?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nolan, Robert & Park, Hyunsoo & Hagen, Leigh Ann Von & Chatman, Daniel, 2014. "A mode choice analysis of school trips in New Jersey," The Journal of Transport and Land Use, Center for Transportation Studies, University of Minnesota, vol. 7(2), pages 111-133.
    2. Somin Lee & Myeong-Hun Lee, 2021. "Impact of Neighborhood Environment on Pedestrian Route Selection among Elementary Schoolchildren in Korea," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(13), pages 1-15, July.
    3. Müller, Sven & Mejia-Dorantes, Lucia & Kersten, Elisa, 2020. "Analysis of active school transportation in hilly urban environments: A case study of Dresden," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    4. Adriana Ortegon-Sanchez & Rosemary R. C. McEachan & Alexandra Albert & Chris Cartwright & Nicola Christie & Ashley Dhanani & Shahid Islam & Marcella Ucci & Laura Vaughan, 2021. "Measuring the Built Environment in Studies of Child Health—A Meta-Narrative Review of Associations," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(20), pages 1-34, October.
    5. Ayse Ozbil & Demet Yesiltepe & Gorsev Argin & Greg Rybarczyk, 2021. "Children’s Active School Travel: Examining the Combined Perceived and Objective Built-Environment Factors from Space Syntax," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(1), pages 1-22, January.
    6. Jonas De Vos & Patricia L. Mokhtarian & Tim Schwanen & Veronique Van Acker & Frank Witlox, 2016. "Travel mode choice and travel satisfaction: bridging the gap between decision utility and experienced utility," Transportation, Springer, vol. 43(5), pages 771-796, September.
    7. Ikeda, Erika & Mavoa, Suzanne & Hinckson, Erica & Witten, Karen & Donnellan, Niamh & Smith, Melody, 2018. "Differences in child-drawn and GIS-modelled routes to school: Impact on space and exposure to the built environment in Auckland, New Zealand," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 103-115.
    8. Easton, Sue & Ferrari, Ed, 2015. "Children's travel to school—the interaction of individual, neighbourhood and school factors," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 9-18.
    9. Mitra, Raktim & Buliung, Ron N., 2014. "The influence of neighborhood environment and household travel interactions on school travel behavior: an exploration using geographically-weighted models," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 69-78.
    10. Amith Yarlagadda & Sivaramakrishnan Srinivasan, 2008. "Modeling children’s school travel mode and parental escort decisions," Transportation, Springer, vol. 35(2), pages 201-218, March.
    11. Mohammad Alauddin & Hong Son Nghiem, 2010. "Do instructional attributes pose multicollinearity problems? An empirical exploration," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(3), pages 351-361, December.
    12. Arthur Getis & J. Keith Ord, 2010. "The Analysis of Spatial Association by Use of Distance Statistics," Advances in Spatial Science, in: Luc Anselin & Sergio J. Rey (ed.), Perspectives on Spatial Data Analysis, chapter 0, pages 127-145, Springer.
    13. Jia Zhao & Wei Su & Jiancheng Luo & Jin Zuo, 2021. "Evaluation and Optimization of Walkability of Children’s School Travel Road for Accessibility and Safety Improvement," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(1), pages 1-19, December.
    14. Dias, Charitha & Abdullah, Muhammad & Lovreglio, Ruggiero & Sachchithanantham, Sumana & Rekatheeban, Markkandu & Sathyaprasad, I.M.S., 2022. "Exploring home-to-school trip mode choices in Kandy, Sri Lanka," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    15. Carver, Alison & Timperio, Anna & Crawford, David, 2013. "Parental chauffeurs: what drives their transport choice?," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 72-77.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Liu, Yang & Min, Shisheng & Shi, Zhuangbin & He, Mingwei, 2024. "Exploring students' choice of active travel to school in different spatial environments: A case study in a mountain city," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Xiaofeng Ji & Haotian Guan & Mengyuan Lu & Fang Chen & Wenwen Qin, 2022. "International Research Progress in School Travel and Behavior: A Literature Review and Bibliometric Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-25, July.
    2. Liu, Yang & Min, Shisheng & Shi, Zhuangbin & He, Mingwei, 2024. "Exploring students' choice of active travel to school in different spatial environments: A case study in a mountain city," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    3. Saad AlQuhtani, 2023. "Factors Affecting Active Commuting to School in Sprawled Cities: The Case of Najran City, Saudi Arabia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-17, June.
    4. Singh, Nishant & Vasudevan, Vinod, 2018. "Understanding school trip mode choice – The case of Kanpur (India)," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 283-290.
    5. Milad Mehdizadeh & Trond Nordfjaern & AmirReza Mamdoohi, 2018. "The role of socio-economic, built environment and psychological factors in parental mode choice for their children in an Iranian setting," Transportation, Springer, vol. 45(2), pages 523-543, March.
    6. Dias, Charitha & Abdullah, Muhammad & Lovreglio, Ruggiero & Sachchithanantham, Sumana & Rekatheeban, Markkandu & Sathyaprasad, I.M.S., 2022. "Exploring home-to-school trip mode choices in Kandy, Sri Lanka," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    7. Haimei Li & Li Han & Yibin Ao & Yan Wang & Tong Wang, 2022. "Influences of the Built Environment on Rural School Children’s Travel Mode Choice: The Case of Chengdu," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-18, July.
    8. Liu, Yang & Ji, Yanjie & Shi, Zhuangbin & He, Baohong & Liu, Qiyang, 2018. "Investigating the effect of the spatial relationship between home, workplace and school on parental chauffeurs’ daily travel mode choice," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 78-87.
    9. Li, Man & Wang, Yupeng & Zhou, Dian, 2023. "Effects of the built environment and sociodemographic characteristics on Children's school travel," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 191-202.
    10. Zhang, Rui & Yao, Enjian & Liu, Zhili, 2017. "School travel mode choice in Beijing, China," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 98-110.
    11. Ermagun, Alireza & Levinson, David, 2016. "Intra-household bargaining for school trip accompaniment of children: A group decision approach," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 222-234.
    12. Guan, Xiaodong & Wang, Donggen, 2019. "Influences of the built environment on travel: A household-based perspective," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 710-724.
    13. Mitra, Raktim & Buliung, Ron N., 2015. "Exploring differences in school travel mode choice behaviour between children and youth," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 4-11.
    14. Motta Queiroz, Mariza & Roque, Carlos & Moura, Filipe & Marôco, João, 2024. "Understanding the expectations of parents regarding their children's school commuting by public transport using latent Dirichlet Allocation," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 181(C).
    15. Bilin Han & Jinhee Kim & Harry Timmermans, 2020. "Turn taking behavior in dual earner households with children: a focus on escorting routines," Transportation, Springer, vol. 47(1), pages 203-222, February.
    16. Ho Yeung Lam & Sisitha Jayasinghe & Kiran D. K. Ahuja & Andrew P. Hills, 2023. "Active School Commuting in School Children: A Narrative Review of Current Evidence and Future Research Implications," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(20), pages 1-20, October.
    17. Boarnet, Marlon G. & Hsu, Hsin-Ping, 2015. "The gender gap in non-work travel: The relative roles of income earning potential and land use," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 111-127.
    18. Alireza Ermagun & David Levinson, 2015. "Intra-household Bargaining for School Trip Accompaniment of Children: A Group Decision Approach with Altruism," Working Papers 000131, University of Minnesota: Nexus Research Group.
    19. Liao, Yuan, 2021. "Ride-sourcing compared to its public-transit alternative using big trip data," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    20. Sheng, Lu & Wu, Xiao & He, Yan, 2023. "Impact of residential relocation on activity-travel behaviors between household couples: A case study of Kunming, China," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:envirb:v:50:y:2023:i:9:p:2560-2578. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.