Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
One important topic concerns the space-time activity patterns of low-income
residents in Chinese cities. Low-income populations tend to face greater difficulties
in daily commute because of the emerging job-housing mismatch in Chinese urban
spaces (Liu and Wang 2011 ). Zhang and Chai ( 2011 ) have found that low-income
populations in Beijing “fragment” space-time activity patterns in that they have
shorter work durations and irregular time allocations for work activities. Low-
income residents in Beijing (Zhang and Chai 2011 ) and Guangzhou (Zhou and Deng
2010 ) have both been found to possess more constrained activity space than other
income groups.
Scholars have also analyzed gender differences in space-time activity patterns in
Chinese cities and compared them to that of Western cities. Among several studies,
Cao and Chai ( 2007 ) have focused on time-use patterns and found that women carry
more household responsibilities than men and that men spend more time on work
and leisure activities. Zhang and Chai ( 2008 ) have further revealed the gender-based
division of domestic labor in Chinese urban households by comparing space-time
activity patterns between husbands and wives from dual-worker households in
Dalian, Tianjin, and Shenzhen. They have argued that “ men are dominant in out-of-
home activities, but women dominate in-home activities ” as wives had lower peaks
in work activities whereas higher peaks in household activities (Zhang and Chai
2008 , 1254).
In addition, urban spatial restructuring has not only changed individual activity-
travel patterns but also led to substantial environmental implications. The global
movement of low-carbon city in response to global climate change prompted the
application of the space-time behavior approach in understanding the impacts
of land use characteristics on travel-related carbon-dioxide emissions through
individual travel decisions. Based on comparisons of space-time activity patterns
and associated carbon emissions across different neighborhoods in Beijing, Chai
et al. ( 2011 ) and Ma et al. ( 2011 ) have found that residents in mixed land-use,
danwei compounds have lower carbon footprints due to their daily travel behavior
compared to residents living in mono-functional, commodity housing communities.
SEM modeling analysis has demonstrated similar results observed in Europe and
the US, showing that neighborhood-based urban forma factors -land-use mix,
public transit accessibility, pedestrian-friendly street design, and more - have had
significant effects on reducing individual travel-induced CO 2 emissions (Ma et al.
2011 ; Xiao et al. 2011 ).
3.3.4
Application of the Space-Time Behavior Approach
in Planning Practices
In addition to empirical research, Chinese scholars have tried to apply the space-time
behavior approach in urban planning practices, including transportation plan-
ning and management, the smart-city master planning, tourism planning, and
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