Human Activity-Travel Behavior
under Spatio-Temporal Constraints
Nobuaki Ohmori
Dept. of Urban Engineering, The Univ. of Tokyo

Urban Transport Policy
Urban Transport Planning & Analysis
October 12, 20121

Objective and Questions
To Be Considered Today• Understand human activity-travel behavior
by considering why people travel in their
daily lives.
• “Why do we travel?”• “Can we live without traveling?”

2

“Why Do We Travel?”• Travel: Spatial movement of people from an
origin to a destination• Travel is a demand, derived from the desire toengage in activities at different locations.
– Engaging in activities: utility– Traveling: disutility (except for driving, jogging,walking, etc. for diversions etc.)– People try to spend less resources (time, money,physical energy, etc.) for traveling.

• One of the four basic elements in City
– “Living”, “Working”, “Recreation” and “Travel”• Travel is represented in space-time dimension.
3

Elements ofTravel and Activity• Travel– Origin/Destination, Start/End Time, Trip Purpose,
Travel Time, Travel Distance, Travel Mode,
Travel Cost, With Whom, etc.
– Where did you go? when, why, how, with whom?

• Activity– Activity Type, Start/End Time, Duration,Location, With Whom, etc.
– What did you do? when, where, with whom?

5Classification of Activities• Mandatory (for individual living, maintaining life)– Sleep, Meals, Personal Care, Medical Care, etc.

• Maintenance/Subsistence (for household living,social life)– Work, Study, Housework, Grocery Shopping,Childcare, etc.

• Discretionary (for increasing level of satisfaction
or quality of daily life)– Resting, Drinking, Shopping, Watching TV, Web
Browsing, Chatting, Mahjong, Pachinko, etc.
6Generation of Travel
and Destination Choice• Utility of engaging in activities at a destination (+)• Disutility of traveling (-)– Time, money, physical energy, psychological burden, etc.

• Utility of traveling (+)– Diversion, can be alone, enjoy scenery, physical exercise, etc.

• Engaging in activities at the destination where a total amountof the utilities is the highest.
• Grocery shopping by a person with small child:– 1. walk to a nearby supermarket with a baby-buggy– 2. cycle to a farther supermarket with a child– 3. drive to a suburban shopping mall with a child– 4. e-shopping at home with a child– 5. go shopping alone, grandparents take care of a child7

Representation of Activity-Travel
Pattern in Space-Time Dimensionstime• Space-time pathis ”the representationof activity-travel
patterns on spacetime coordinate.”• Originated from time
geography
established byHägerstrand (1970）
CA
B

space8

hospital

restaurant

supermarket

homerental video
yakiniku
restaurant

husband’s officenursery B

ramen shop
wife’s officenursery B’
0amusementpark & Spanursery A

500m

10

Working husband and wife without children
walkLife cycle stage A
time

walk

walk
train

husband：wife ：

walk
train
home
bar

officeofficespace11

Working husband and wife with a pre-school child
Life cycle stage B
time
walk

・take a son to the nursery:
husband, by bike

bike

train

・pick up a son: wife, by bikehusband：wife ：
son：
bike ：

bike

walk

train

home
officespace
officenursery A Hongo12
sanchome

The second child was born, wife have taken a year off for child-careLife cycle stage BRainy daystime・take the elder son to nursery
A: husband, by bike・pick up the elder son: wifewith the younger son, by car

husbandwifeelder son
younger son
car
bike：
：
：：
：：

bikecarcar

bikehomenursery A

officespace
13

Wife has returned to the work in the night time with a baby-sitter’s helpbikeLife cycle stage B
train

・take the elder son to nursery
A: husband, by bike・pick up the elder son: wifewith the younger son, by car

walktimewalktraincarcar

・a baby-sitterhusbandwifeelder son
younger son
bikecarbaby-sitter

：
：
：
：
：
:
：

bike
home

officespace
office 14
nursery AWife works in the day time
Life cycle stage B・take the elder son to nursery A: time
husband & wife with the younger
son, by car
・take the younger son to nursery
B: husband & wife, by car
・pick up the younger son: wife,by car
・pick up the elder son: wife withthe younger son, by car
husbandwife
elder sonyounger son
bikecar：：：：：:walkcarcarcarcar
home nursery B

space

officenursery A15officeWife changed job and moved house to Utsunomiya city

train
stationsupermarket
ramen shop

wife’s office
hospital

yakiniku
restaurant

01km

shopping
complexsupermarket
homenursery C

hospitalelementaryschool17

Utsunomiya
officehomeoffice
Tokyo

050km
18

Wife changed job and moved house to Utsunomiya city
Life cycle stage B
time

bike
Shinkansen≈

・take two sons tonursery C: wife, by car
・pick up two sons:wife, by car
：：：：
：:

≈

husbandwife
elder sonyounger son
bikecar

car

car
bike

Shinkansen

homeUtsunomiya Ueno space
nursery C19
officeofficeA daughter was born and the elder son enter an elementary school
Life cycle stage C・take the younger son time：：：：：：：

car≈husbandwife
elder sonyounger son
daughterbicyclecar

Shinkansen≈

and a daughter tonursery C: wife, by car
・take the elder son fromhis school to nursery C:
nursery driver, by car
・pick up two sons and adaughter: wife, by car

Shinkansen
home
Utsunomiya
Ueno
school nursery C20
officeofficespacecity A≈Now, the second son enter an elementary school…
Life cycle stage C
time・take a daughter to
Shinkansen
schoolnursery C: wife, bybus
car・pick up aschooldaughter: wife, bybuscarhusband：wife：
elder son：younger son ：daughter：
Shinkansen
bicycle：homecar：≈swimming school
school nursery

Utsunomiya Ueno Tokyo space
nursery C
21
officeofficecity ADescriptions and Definitions of Lifecycle Stages (Jones et al., 1983)22

Lifecycle stages,
daily activity demand, resources
work

A Younger (married) adults withoutchildren
B Families with pre-school children
C Families with pre-school children
and young school children
D Families with young school children
E Families with older school children
F Families of adults, all of workingage
G Older adults, no children inhousehold
H Retired persons

freefinancialchild timephysicalcarcare

Space-Time Path in 3D-GIS (M.-P. Kwan’s website)24

Space-Time Path in 3D-GIS (M.-P. Kwan’s website)25

Transport Environment andActivity Opportunities

Travel Pattern

Time of Day
Desired Activity Set

26

27

Constraints for Activity-Travel Patterns
Proposed by Hägerstrand (1970)• Capability Constraints– Physiological characteristics and available mode

• Coupling Constraints– Individuals and materials must exist together atspecific location and time

• Authority Constraints– Individuals can not be at specific location andtime
29

Space-Time Prism and Space-Time
Path (Hägerstrand, 1970)
Constraints• Activity scheduletimeTheavailable
time at theopportunity– Spatio-temporal constraintsof fixed activities• Transportation network– Road network– Transit network• Opportunities

Spacetime path

– Location– Opening hours

Larger prism provides us
more opportunities!

KomabaHongospace30“Can We Live Without Traveling?”• Some activities can be outsourced to other persons– Other household members, Baby sitters, Housekeepers,etc.

• Some activities can be conducted bytelecommunications (e.g. mobile phone, theInternet) and do not need to travel.
– Telecommuting, Teleshopping, Teleconferencing, etc.

• If you can do “living”, “working” and “recreation”
at one location, you need not travel to otherlocations.
– Hongo campus?
– Land use and locations of activity opportunities arecritical factors

31Original Travel Pattern: 6 TRIPS

shops
homecinemafriend’shouse

Alternative strategies (to reduce car use) for satisfying similar
32
activity needs (Jones et al., 1983)

shopscinemahomeshops
cinemafriend’shouse

homefriend’shouse

Alternative strategies (to reduce car use) for satisfying similar
33
activity needs (Jones et al., 1983)

Space-Time Area Where
Telecommunications Are Availablee.g., mobile phone
is prohibited touse:- during class,- in hospitals,- in theater,- near priority seatson train,- etc.

Concept of “digital box” (Dijst, 2004)

34

time
Space-time where twopersons can meet
Individual X

Individual Y

space

Meetingtime

Time when two persons
can communicate witheach other
Cyber
Telephone space

Individual Y space

Individual X

Individual Y space

Individual X
timeTime when Individual A
can usetelecommunication
Time when Individual B
can usetelecommunication

E-mailCyberspace35

Spatial and temporal constraints on communications systems
Spatial coincidence of communicators required
Yes

Yes
Temporalcoincidence ofcommunicators
requiredFace-to-facemeeting

No
Picture phones
Telephones
Cellular phones
Teleconference (audio or audiovisual)Web conferencing and collaboration
systems
Instant messaging
CB radioAnswering and recording machines
Computer conferencing and bulletinboardsRefrigerator
E-mailNo notes
Voice mailHospital charts
Mail
Telegrams, telex, fax
Printed publications
36
Janelle D.G. (2004), Harvey A.S. and P.A. Macnab (2000)

Positive Utility of Travel• I would not like to stay at home all the day… I
want to go out!
– Positive utility of traveling itself• Physical exercise, enjoy scenery, feel wind, be alone,
communication with people, enjoy driving, etc.

• Even if teleportation machine is available, you
might travel.
• Desired commute time is not 0 minute(Mokhtarian, 2003）
37

Activities While Traveling• Activities while traveling– ICTs and miniaturized electronic devices provide many activity
opportunities while traveling– If people can engage in activities comfortably even while traveling,
travel disutility will be reduced.

• Activities that people can engage in while traveling depend on:– Travel mode
– Congestion level, sitting or standing, in-vehicle time, available portabledevices, facilities equipped with the train, etc.
– Individual trip purpose, level of physical fatigue, etc.

• Providing better environment in public transport could
contribute to modal shift from car to public transport?
38

Wien, Austria

London, U.K.
Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Washington D.C., U.S.

39

Dalian, China

Bangkok, Thailand

Seoul, South Korea

40
Tokyo,Japan

Bangkok, Thailand

Dalian, China

Seoul, South Korea

Tokyo, Japan41

Activities that can be conducted while traveling (Ohmori & Harata, 2008)
Walk

Bike

Car
driverCar
pass.

TaxiBus

Train

Train
stationBusstop

Eat/Drink

B

B

BA

B

A/B

A/BA

A

Read books, etc.

B

C

C

A

A

A

A

A

A

Smoke cigarettes

B

B

B

A

C

C

B/C

B

B

Talk with comp.

A

B

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

Mobile phone

B

C

B

A

A

B/C

B/C

A

A

Mobile e-mail

B

C

C

A

A

A

A

A

A

PC/PDA

B

C

C

A

A

A

A

A

A

Music/Radio

B

C

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

Sleep

C

C

C

A

A

A

A

A

A

Sing songs

B

B

A

A

B

B

B

B

B

Think

B

B

B

A

A

A

A

A

A

See scenery, etc.

A

A

B

A

A

A

A

A

A

42
A: possible, B: possible but not recommended, C: impossible or prohibitedTravel environment, travelers’ characteristics, and activity
opportunity on the train (Ohmori & Harata, 2008)

Summary• Travel is a demand, derived from the desire toengage in activities at different locations.
• Daily activity-travel pattern is a result ofscheduling desired activity set, under space-time
constraints of transport and land use systems, andother constraints of household, and personal
perceptions and preferences.
• How will human activity-travel patterns change by
the use of ICTs?
• What are cities and sustainable transport in thefuture?
44References• Burns, L.D. (1978) Transportation, temporal, and spatial
components of accessibility. LexingtonBooks.
• Dijst, M. (2004) ICTs and accessibility: an action space
perspective on the impact of new information andcommunication technologies, In: Beuthe, M., A. Reggiani and L.
Zamarini (eds.), Transport Developments and Innovation in an
Evolving World, Springer, Berlin, 2004, 27–46.
• Hägerstrand, T. (1970) What about people in regional science?,
Papers of the Regional Science Association, 24, 7–21.
• Jones, P., et al. (1983) Understanding travel behavior, Gower.
• Kwan, M.-P.’s website, http://geog-www.sbs.ohiostate.edu/faculty/mkwan/Gallery/3DGIS.htm• Lyons, G. and J. Urry (2005) Travel time use in the informationage, Transportation Research A 39, 257–276.
• Lyons, G., J. Jain and D. Holley (2007) The use of travel timeby rail passengers in Great Britain, Transportation Research A
4541, 107–120.

References (cont.)• Mokhtarian, P. and I. Salomon (2001) How derived is thedemand for travel? some conceptual and measurement
considerations, Transportation Research A 35, 695–719.
• Ohmori, N. (2008) Application of information on activity-travel
patterns in urban space and time in the information age, In:
Sadahiro, Y. (ed.) Spatial Data Infrastructure for Urban
Regeneration, Springer, Japan, 2008, 127–145.
• Ohmori, N. (2009) Connected anytime: Telecommunications andactivity-travel behavior from an Asian perspective, In: Kitamura,R., T. Yoshii and T. Yamamoto (eds.), The Expanding Sphere ofTravel Behaviour Research, Selected Papers from the 11th
Conference of the International Association for Travel Behaviour
Research, Emerald, 77-93.
• Ohmori, N. and N. Harata (2008) How different are activities
while commuting by train? a case in Tokyo, Journal of Economic
and Social Geography (TESG), 99(5), 547–561.
46