How commuting behaviour is related to the built environment in Hong Kong?

Abstract

The relationship between built environment and travel behaviour is a topic that has been widely studied for decades around the world. Greater understanding of how urban planners and governmental leaders can affect change in that regard, is leading to a new wave of Transit oriented Design (TOD) features incorporated into modern large-scale projects. However, few studies have focused on the unique challenges and problems faced in the urban jungle that is Hong Kong. This relationship was closely studied using a multiple linear regression model to study the association of commuting distance and commuting time to different category of built environment and multiple logistic model to analysis the association of various commuting mode choices to the built environment variables. Both models were developed in R Statistics Packages. Regression coefficients, standardized errors and p-value were extracted from the model result to examine the said relationships and average marginal effect was also calculated from the multiple logistic model to study the association of commuting mode choice to built environment characteristics. It was found that the increase of employment density and land use mix in the neighbourhood could reduce the commuting distance and time for urban and new town areas, which could support the government planning initiative of self-containment and job-housing balance. Additionally, the higher the ratio of residential areas allocated within the 500-meter rail catchment area, the shorter the commuting time for residents, especially for new town area. This is a good demonstration of the benefits of transit-oriented development in new and existing projects.