Modelling Of The Impacts Of Multi-scale Built Environment And Commuting Behavior On Residents' Happiness

China has been experiencing the largest urbanization process in the world history,which is characterized by large-scale migrations from rural areas to urban areas.Rapid urbanization has led to dramatic urban sprawl of Chinese cities and explosive increase of motorized travel demand,which has become a challenge for the carrying capacity of urban resources and environment.Meanwhile,the urban sprawl and increasing car dependency have caused many “city diseases” such as traffic congestion,air pollution and public health threats.These negative effects have deterred the promotion of residents' happiness.Therefore,it is of great importance to explore the interaction between built environment and individual activities from an individual perspective,and investigate the mediating effects of commuting behavior on relationship between built environment and happiness,which can provide insight for encouraging residents to travel with sustainable modes and realizing their yearning for a better life.The conclusion from the study can provide policy implications for cities to develop policies with the objectives of improving residents' happiness.This study focuses on the sustainable development of urban built environment.This study develops an analyzing framework by combing the latest achievements from transportation planning,urban planning,public health and sociology,which consists of four aspects including built environment,travel behavior,health and happiness.It follows “key research problems analysis-basic data mining-modeling approach-empirical analysis” as the main research line.Aiming to analyze the effects of urban built environment on promoting sustainable travel and residents' happiness,this explores the relationship among built environment,commuting behavior,health and happiness and disentangles the mediating role of commuting behavior.The main content of this study includes four aspects:(1)Using commuting trips as the basic analysis unit,this study analyzes the effect of built environment at the neighborhood level on commuting mode choice considering parking availability at both residences and workplaces.Meanwhile,the mediating effects of household car ownership and commuting distance are also taken into account when investigating the influence mechanisms of built environment on commuting mode choice.Based on the integrated path analysis-discrete choice model,the data from Changchun household travel survey is used to investigate influential factors of commuting mode choice.The decision-making mechanisms of commuting mode choice are analyzed by comparing whether the impacts of built environment differ after considering parking availability.(2)The effects of built environment and commuting behavior on happiness are analyzed,in which the measurements of built environment extend from the neighborhood level to the city level.Meanwhile,the moderating effects of urbanization rates are considered when modelling the impacts of multilevel built environment on happiness.Based on data from China Labor-force Dynamics Survey,a multilevel ordered logistic regression model is employed to investigate the influence mechanisms of multilevel built environment characteristics on happiness in the urbanization process.And the differences of the impacts of built environment and commuting behavior on happiness are also explored to reveal the moderating effects of urbanization rates.(3)The impacts of multilevel built environment characteristics on happiness are revealed considering the mediating effects of household car ownership and active commuting,in which the relationship between built environment and health is taken into account.Body mass index(BMI)is used to represent health in this study.The generalized structural equation model(GSEM)is employed to explore these impacts based on data from China Labor-force Dynamics Survey.The role that multilevel built environment characteristics play in influencing commuting behavior,health and happiness is explored,in which the mediating effects of commuting behavior and health are both revealed.(4)In order to promote sustainable travel and increase residents' happiness,the interaction between built environment and individuals is analyzed from an individual perspective.Specifically,this study develops a theoretical modelling framework on the relationship among built environment,commuting behavior,health and happiness and conducts empirical research based on survey data,which enriches the theoretical analysis system integrating the built environment and individual behavior.The empirical findings provide insight for optimizing commuting structure and mitigating traffic congestion through improving urban built environment.Meanwhile,it also provides policy implications for shaping a long-term sustainable relationship between urban form and travel behavior and promoting public health and happiness.Therefore,it is of great importance for urban planners and policy makers to build a stable and harmonious society through designing sustainable urban built environment.