خلاصة:
Problem statement: Trip distance, as a key variable of travel behavior, represents the level of
sustainable transportation, quality of life, individuals’ accessibility to spatial opportunities, and
spatial balance among urban areas.
Research objectives: Despite numerous research relating to travel behavior, few scant studies
have investigated the role of different factors in explaining trip distance for non-work purposes.
So, the main purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of both individual and physical-spatial
factors (at trip origin and destination) on trip distance using the theoretical framework of time
geography.
Research method: The research method is descriptive-analytic based on logical reasoning and
empirical observations. In this study, based on the g time geography framework, 9 factors at the
individual level and 9 factors at the scale of the neighborhood are categorized into three sets of
constraints including capacity constraints, coupling constraints, and authority constraints. In order
to test the theoretical framework, 30 study districts in the metropolitan of Isfahan, Iran are selected
and required data were collected using 1312 questionnaires. For analysis of the abovementioned
factors, the potential impacts of the factors have been firstly explained and then, using the collected
data and the linear regression technique, the expected relationships have been experimentally
tested.
Conclusion: The results and the findings of the research show that the variables related to all
three types of constraints affect trip distance; and the role of physical-spatial characteristics in
explaining trip distance is stronger than individual factors. Distance from the city center is the
most important factor affecting trip distance. Also, although it was theoretically expected that
some factors such as gender, household size, commercial density, and land use diversity affect
travel length, they did not significantly appear in the empirical analysis model