Travel-based residential self-selection: A qualitatively improved understanding from Norway

By integrating both quantitative and qualitative materials, this paper sheds new light on the role of travel-based residential preferences in residential location choice and the implications for land-use and travel behavior research. In the two Norwegian metropolitan areas of Oslo and Stavanger, movers who select their residence based on travel attitudes relocate to inner-city districts but not to suburban areas. For those who move to suburban areas, criteria other than travel are more important. Residential self-selection toward transit-rich neighborhoods is more prominent in the large, monocentric Oslo region than in the smaller, polycentric Stavanger metropolitan area where transit provision is generally poorer. Travel-based residential self-selection may affect the effect estimates of built environment characteristics somewhat for travel mode choice, less so for travel distance in general, and hardly at all for commuting distance. Overall, there is no strong empirical basis in support of controlling for travel-based residential self-selection in land-use and travel behavior research in a Norwegian urban context. Built environment characteristics exert substantial impacts on intra-metropolitan travel distances and modes, regardless of residential self-selection.