Comparison of urban residents' travel behavior in China and the U.S.: A case study between Beijing and Chicago

Comparative urban research is an important perspective for learning international experience and guide Chinese development, and urban residents' travel behavior is a measurable phenomenon for exploring how different contexts and development stages have impact on residents' daily activities. Previous studies mostly focus on theoretical discussions on urban spatial development and residents' daily behavior in China and the U.S. rather than empirical studies based on first- hand surveys. This paper explores differences in behavioral patterns and spacetime constraints of residents living in the urban centers of Beijing and Chicago. The datasets are based on Beijing activity diary survey of residents living inside the Fifth Ring Road and Chicago Regional Household Travel Inventory of residents living inside City of Chicago, both of which were collected in 2007. The datasets finally comprise data with two-day activity-travel diary from 715 individuals in Beijing and 589 individuals in Chicago. The results show that people in Beijing have relatively short commuting distance and center- oriented distribution,whereas people in Chicago have relatively long commuting distance and decentralized distribution. These are in consistent with the different suburbanization processes between China and the U.S. Suburbanization in China is mainly living space rather than employment centers. However, employment in large American metropolitan areas has been decentralized in a large extent. For socio-demographics, men with high household-income tend to travel long distance to work, which responds to intra-household gender division of labor and classical sector model in social space. For daily activities and travel, the purpose with the longest distance is work-related activities in both cities, but the second is maintenance-related activities in Beijing while the counterpart is entertainment-related activities in Chicago. For transport mode, people in Beijing prefer walking or bicycling, while people in Chicago are more likely to use cars. This paper generates some important insights on the development mode for future Chinese cities after considering the U.S. experience- i.e., developing sub-centers to form a multi-center spatial structure, improving urban facilities to reduce excess travel demands for maintenance and dailyshopping, encouraging people to keep using bicycles or walking instead of depending of cars.Discussions of the benefits and shortcomings associated with comparative urban research based on travel behavior analysis are provided, along with suggestions for future research.