Preference Planning and Unsustainable\nDesires: A Hypothesis toward 'How'\nContextual and Psychological Factors\nInfluence Travel Attitudes through\nQualitative and Quantitative Measures

Counter to the prevailing view that sees travel attitudes as influencing neighbourhood\nlocation decisions, this dissertation sets out to examine if where individuals choose to live\nhas an effect on travel attitudes. To achieve this, both a quantitative and qualitative\nanalysis of the relationship between travel attitudes, place attachment and length of tenure\nis performed. An association between place attachment and travel attitudes would suggest\nthat travel attitudes, and subsequent travel behaviours, are a result of neighbourhood\nlocation considerations rather than an influencing factor on them. This too is the case for\nan association between length of tenure and travel attitudes. While previous research\nidentifies associations between contextual physical factors or psychological factors and\ntravel behaviour, how these factors exert their influence is relatively undefined. With the\nproposition of an association between travel attitudes, place attachment and length of\ntenure, an underlying mechanism to these previous associates is tested. Because place\nattachment occurs over time and after a decision has been made to reside in a particular\nneighbourhood, and likewise because length of tenure is time dependent, a connection\nbetween either of these factors and travel attitudes supports the hypothesis that travel\nattitudes may just as likely be a result of residential location choices as they are an\ninfluence on them. For this reason, both of these variables are referred to as post-decision\nreasoning factors and are perceived as the mechanisms through which decisions are\njustified after they have been made.\nWhile travel behaviour literature is currently focused on the role latent travel attitudes have\non residential location choices, housing choice literature consistently finds travel attitudes\nor neighbourhood factors a distant second to dwelling considerations. Dwelling size\nversus price, housing quality, yard and overall house size all have a greater influence on\nresidential location decisions. Even when neighbourhood considerations are made in\naddition to dwelling characteristic factors, travel attitudes again rank lower than school\nquality, perceived safety and even the image of the neighbourhood. This dissertation is\nplaced to add clarity to the discrepancy between travel behaviour and housing choice\nliterature.\nAn initial pilot study examined the relation between liveability and density and guided this\ndissertation toward travel behaviour, neighbourhood location decisions and the important\nrole of attitudes to these two domains. Typically travel behaviour is compared between two\nneighbourhood typologies. These are either conventional or traditional. The former reflects\nstatus-quo land development with long winding cul-de-sacs, separated uses, a lack of\ncenteredness and low connectivity. The latter is more akin to neighbourhoods developed\nbefore the Second World War and have higher densities, mixed uses, and are generally\ndirected towards pedestrians rather than the automobile. Two traditional and two\nconventional neighbourhoods from Canada and New Zealand were used as case studies for\nthe main research. Three-hundred households in each of the four case studies received a\nsurvey that inquired about residents' preferences toward travel modes and neighbourhood\ntypes and included psychological variables used for the prediction of travel behaviour as\nwell as typical socio-demographic variables and the two post-decision reasoning factors of\nplace attachment and length of tenure. This survey was analysed using multiple regression\nto determine the influence of post-decision reasoning variables. In addition to this\nquantitative survey, an on-line qualitative survey assessed residents' opinions for what\nmotivates their travel and neighbourhood location decisions. The relative discourse\npatterns that developed from the qualitative survey provide a context against which the\nquantitative findings are interpreted. This provides validation to the quantitative findings as\nwell as a theoretically robust method to infer causation.\nFindings indicated that attitudes were not correlated to post-decision reasoning variables\nbut that they may still have formed after a neighbourhood selection decision was made and\nnot prior. Here an unanticipated correlation between perceived behavioural control and\ntravel attitudes was observed. Likewise, another unanticipated result suggests a greater\nmismatch between travel preferences and behaviours than previous studies have found.\nWhile the focus in environmental psychology is on segmenting survey populations into\npersonality cohorts, with the aim of tailoring policy to these subgroups, the findings from\nthe present study suggest a greater concentration should be paid to the context within\nwhich diverse populations develop. Here, both the qualitative and quantitative results\nindicate that rather than attitudes informing environmentally supportive behaviours, such\nas travel behaviour, an individual's social and physical context may afford them\nopportunities to hold environmentally supportive attitudes instead of the other way around.\nWhile the vast majority of research within this field appears satisfied with correlating\nvarying attitudes to positive environmental behaviour rather than explaining why these\ndifferences exist, the present study explores a hypothesis toward this rationalization. Here,\npost-decision reasoning provides a reliable explanation of travel behaviour and this\nunderstanding further informs how to more effectively engage with groups and individuals\ntoward increased sustainable behaviour.

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