Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives 7 (2020) 100207

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Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives

journal homepage: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/transportation-research-
interdisciplinary-perspectives

Activity-based travel as a social signal of the City Satisfaction Index. Study

case in a medium-sized city of Argentina
Héctor Oscar Nigro, Sandra Elizabeth González Císaro
⁎
Computer Sciences and System Department, Exact Sciences Faculty, Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Article history: The travel based on activities carried out daily by citizens is a social signal that helps interpret the City Satisfaction
Received 30 October 2019 Index. In the present study, we characterized these daily trips by the mode of transport, motive, duration, area of or-
Received in revised form 10 August 2020 igin, area of destination, etc, and explored their relationship with four dimensions of citizen satisfaction: Job Oppor-
Accepted 15 August 2020
tunities, Urban planning and diversity, Nature and recreation and Reproductive success. This relationship was
Available online 29 August 2020
studied by the partial least squares path modelling and the four dimensions establish a conceptual framework of factors
Keywords:
that are relevant for the satisfaction of citizens with their place of residence. The results obtained suggest a double-
Social signals entry channel: mandatory activities influence the City Satisfaction Index, whereas discretionary, emotional, and self-
Activity-based travel expressive activities are key indicators of the performance of the index. The data used were based on a survey of the
Citizen Satisfaction Index daily commutes of citizens of Tandil, a medium-sized city of Argentina, collected between 2012 and 2016.
Social and community intelligence
Mandatory and discretionary activities

1. Introduction communication that depends on the biological basis of social behaviours

People steadily modify their behaviour to meet their needs and desires.
About 40% of these behavioural changes can be predicted by social signals,
regardless of the words used or personal attributes (Pentland, 2010). This
percentage is the same as that of the personal characteristics that can be at-
tributed to our genetic constitution. Social signals have properties that are
different from those of the linguistic channel, being characterized as a
two-way communication channel (Pentland, 2010), and can be measured
through interurban trips (Susilo and Maat, 2007; Susilo and Dijst, 2010). In-
terurban transportation is a demand derived from the needs and desires of
individuals and households. In this context, the activity-based travel-
demand model is a framework that analyses the behaviour of journeys in
daily behavioural patterns, related to and derived from different lifestyles
and activities. Due to the influence of urban development, people make
daily trips with the objective of participating in different activities (Ben-
Akiva and Lerman, 1985; Ben-Akiva et al., 1996; Ben-Akiva and Bierlaire,
1999; Chapin, 1974; Hagerstrand, 1970). Thus, individuals adjust their be-
haviour influenced by the desire to achieve their objectives. These objec-
tives are based on individual choices, which, in turn, depend on the
individual's lifestyle, mobility decisions, and travel scheduling based on ac-
tivities that are implemented and reprogrammed in different time frames of
decision making (Ajzen, 1991; Ben-Akiva and Lerman, 1985; Ben-Akiva
et al., 1996). These choices are interpreted as a channel of non-linguistic
such as cooperation, aggression, territoriality, the choice of a partner, etc.
This is an interpretation through the variation of human nature on how to
solve and/or adapt the demands of the competition of the human cycle in
terms of growth, development, reproduction, parental care, and finding of
a partner (Borgerhoff and Schacht, 2012). The relationship between the
perception of the urban environment and urban mobility, taking into ac-
count attitudes, lifestyle, and demographic variables (Van Acker and
Witlox, 2010; Zhang and Yanwei, 2008), can be empirically evaluated
through a system of structural equations (Golob, 2003; Kuppam and
Pendyala, 2001; Lu and Pas, 1999). The results can be measured
considering the tendency to participate in activities both inside and outside
the home on a given day, bearing in mind the number, time, motives
and mode of transport of daily trips, and the amount of time spent inside
the home.
In general, satisfaction with the urban environment is explained (50%
of the total variance) by four main factors: Job Opportunities, Urban plan-
ning and diversity, Nature and recreation and Reproductive success (Nigro
and González Cisaro, 2016; Zenker et al., 2013, 2014).
In the present study, all this information was calculated from a pseudo-
panel (Weis, 2009) of a data set (called the Municipal Transportation
Survey) from Tandil city, a medium-sized city in Buenos Aires province,
Argentina. We aimed to investigate whether mandatory and discretionary
activities have the same causal direction with respect to the adaptation to

⁎ Corresponding author at: Exact Sciences Faculty, Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, Paraje Seco s/n. Campus Universitario, Tandil, Argentina.
E-mail address: sagonci@exa.unicen.edu.ar. (S.E. González Císaro).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.trip.2020.100207
2590-1982/© 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.
0/).
H.O. Nigro, S.E. González Císaro /
the environment. We extended the same question to the functional, emo-
tional and social values of the city brand.
2. Data and methodology
The study is based on data obtained in Tandil city, Province of Buenos
Aires, Argentina, between 2012 and 2016. The data, which were collected
from surveys, with the samples implemented through a rotating pseudo-
panel, were distributed in two annual waves, with the purpose of covering
different seasonal periods of the year. The sample design was probabilistic
by multiple phase conglomerates (2010 Census of the city of Tandil). The
final unit of data was surveyed by selecting quotas per area. All this infor-
mation was collected by using a structured and pre-coded questionnaire,
whose main goal was to explore in detail the patterns of urban routine.
This questionnaire consisted of origin-destination surveys (Antolín et al.,
2015) aimed to collect all the information about the local trips that had
taken place during business days and weekends, considering their modal-
ity, schedule, reason, itinerary and duration. This allowed us to initiate
four types of database: home, people, travel, and zones. With respect to
the sampling methodology, the sample size used was 1296 people, distrib-
uted in 450 homes located in the urban area of Tandil. This represented
106,980 people over 12 years old who were living in the urban area of
this city at the time of the study. According to the registration of the electric
power distribution company, the number of households in this city was
about 52,122 in 2016 and 46,357 in 2011.
In the wave of August 2014, a questionnaire was added with the objec-
tive to analyse the people's perception of the urban environment (described
in the Introduction section). The degree of satisfaction, combined with the
dimensions mentioned in the Introduction section, was measured with a
Likert scale, which ranges from 1 (“Very Unsatisfied”) to 10 (“Very Satis-
fied”). In this case, the sample was representative of a population over
16 years old, with a total of 277 cases with a margin of error of ±6.0%,
for a level of significance of 95%. We took into consideration the following
data: 58.5% of the citizens of Tandil are women, the average sample age is
about 39.8 years old (SD = 16.9), 39% are salaried workers, 24% are self-
employed, 17% are students, 9% are housewives, 9% are retired and 2% are
unemployed. Regarding education, 32% of the people have completed
higher or university education, 33% have completed secondary school,
and 35% have completed primary school.
The fieldwork, which covered various stages between 2012 and 2016,
was accomplished with the access to the blocks sampled and the subsequent
home visits through systematic selection, to conduct the necessary inter-
views to each valid member of the household to complete the question-
naires. The results of the surveys showed that the citizens of Tandil make
about 750,623 daily trips. These were performed by 74.7% of the popula-
tion over 12 years old or older (106,980 people), who made at least one
trip per working day. Considering this group of people, we estimated an av-
erage of 2.47 travels per working day.
The general objectives that guided our fieldwork were:
a) to collect detailed information about the daily trips performed by the
people in Tandil during the study;
b) to satisfy the information requirements to estimate models related to
the perception of the urban environment and the mobility pattern
based on the description of daily mobility events such as the number
of daily trips made by the population;
and
c) to find out and evaluate the reasons why these daily trips are made,
which type of transport is used, which is the origin and destination of
the trips, when the peak period occurs and, how long the trip takes.
2.1. Model specification
The mathematical model that we built to induce our hypothesis was a
model of structural equations. Wold, 1985 describes this model as “a
2
Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives 7 (2020) 100207
dialogue between the investigator and the computer. Tentative improve-
ments of the model—such as the introduction of a new latent variable, an
indicator, or an inner relation, or the omission of such an element—are
tested for predictive relevance (…) and the various pilot studies are a
speedy and low-cost matter” (extracted from Hair et al., 2019, p. 10). To
build this model, we used the WarpPLS software because it identifies and
shows the non-linearity between variables in path models and produces pa-
rameters that consider the underlying heterogeneity (Kock, 2020).
Table 1 shows the variables used in the model and their meaning.
The model fit and the quality indices obtained were good. In fact, the
Tenenhaus GoF index obtained a value of 0.471, the Simpson's paradox
ratio, the R-squared contribution ratio, the Statistical suppression ratio
and the Nonlinear bivariate causality direction ratio achieved a value of
1.000, the Average path coefficient achieved a value of 0.333, the Average
R-squared achieved a value of 0.271, and the Average adjusted R-squared
achieved a value of 0.266 - these last indices with a P < 0.001. Regarding
collinearity, the Average block variance inflation factor (VIF) index ob-
tained a value of 1.167 and the Average full collinearity VIF obtained a
value of 1.580, below the strict acceptable limit of 3.3 (Fig. 1).
Conservative criteria recommend that VIFs are less than five, whereas
more relaxed criteria recommend that they are <10 (Hair et al., 2009;
Kline, 1998; Kock, 2014). The acceptable predictive validity in relation to
an endogenous latent variable is suggested by a Q-squared coefficient
which is greater than zero (see Table 2). The most relaxed version of this
criterion, which is widely used, is that one out of two coefficients must be
equal to or >0.7 (Kock and Lynn, 2012). This generally applies to the com-
posite reliability coefficient, which is usually the higher of the two (Fornell
and Larcker, 1981; Kock and Lynn, 2012; Kock, 2017).
To assess convergent validity, the average variance extracted (AVE)
threshold frequently recommended for acceptable validity is 0.5 (Fornell
and Larcker, 1981) and applies only to the reflective latent variables.
The square root of the average variance extracted is greater than any of
the correlations involving that latent variable, an acceptable criterion to
evaluate the discriminant validity of each latent variable (Fornell and
Larcker, 1981; Kock, 2015; Kock and Lynn, 2012).
3. Main results: model relationships
Previous studies have shown that the more satisfied people are with the
urban environment, the more they will try to go to places on foot; a nice
neighbourhood and a vital social environment reduce the amount of private
car travel (Aditjandra et al., 2012). In terms of both direct and total effects,
Table 1
Acronyms and meaning.
Acronym Description
WorPla Activity time at the place of work
RegScho Travel time spent on studies and time spent on Regular School activities
ConsWend Time spent on trips and activities related to consumption on weekends
Sp&ReWd Time spent on trips and activities related to nature and recreation on
weekends
SpReWe Time spent on trips and activities related to nature and recreation on
weekdays
SoViWen Time spent on trips and activities related to social relations on weekends
JobOpp Job opportunities: it relates to all issues relevant to work such as the
general level of salary, the general economic growth in the region, the
existence of good jobs and employment opportunities, the general level of
wages, etc.
Urb&Div Urban planning and diversity: it could be understood as the urban and
metropolitan characteristic of a place, for example, a large city with a
wide range of opportunities, cultural events, or business. This factor also
describes a city open and tolerant to different cultures and subcultures
Parent Quality of life in the city for parenting children
Satisf Overall satisfaction
Nat&Rec Nature and recreation. it expresses the need of citizens to have low
environmental, visual, and noise pollution; parks and public open spaces;
and a peaceful place to live
PubTra Travel time in public transport
Walking Travel time on foot
H.O. Nigro, S.E. González Císaro / Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives 7 (2020) 100207

Fig. 1. Model of individual behaviour of activity-based trips. The graph is the mathematical model built with the WarpPLS software.

variables of satisfaction with the city had the greatest impact on the de-
mand for discretionary personal travel among all the explanatory vari-
ables. Both the time spent in the workplace and the time spent on
public transport were influenced by the perception of habitat and job
opportunities. These results provide the necessary evidence to support
the speculation that the association commonly observed between the
perception of urban environment and travel patterns and vice versa is
an association of direct and indirect causality, especially due to the cor-
relations of each of the variables with the others. The results suggest
that when attitudes, lifestyle, sociodemographic variables, and
neighbourhood types are considered, they influence the travel behav-
iour. The physical and aesthetic attributes of a place inhabited by a com-
munity make life more pleasant through the environment built via
urbanity and nature, which is highly valued by citizens. One of the
keys for a citizen to be satisfied with a city is the speed of travel, espe-
cially that of public transport (Glaeser et al., 2001). Since time is cur-
rently becoming more and more valuable, the longer the duration of a
journey in public transport, especially on weekdays, the lower the
satisfaction with the job opportunities offered by the city, as well as
with the generation system and distribution of habitat resources.
The satisfaction with job opportunities is related to the time spent in the
workplace. When the time spent at work is between 2 and 6 h and 30 min
(1625 annual hours), the relationship is positive. The optimum time seems
to be that between this last amount of time and 7 h and 20 min (1833 an-
nual hours), and, after exceeding this limit, the satisfaction with work be-
gins to decline sharply (OECD, Graph of hours worked per person in
OECD countries between 1990 and 2012, and GDP produced per hour
worked). The comparison is completed by calculating 1400 annual hours,
which are represented by 5 h and 30 min a day (always about 250 annual
working days, see Fig. 2).
The travel time in public transport on weekdays for different reasons
(work, education, etc.) is negative with respect to the impact that it has
on the perception of job opportunities, especially when it is up to 40 min
a day. Probably this is explained less by the quality of services offered
than by the fact that public transport is the most used means of transport
for obligatory occupational reasons.

Table 2
Latent variable coefficients.
R-squared Adjusted R-squared Composite reliability Cronbach's alpha Average variance Full collinearity Q-squared
coefficients coefficients coefficients coefficients extracted VIFs coefficients

JobOpp 0.247 0.239 0.858 0.750 0.670 1.756 0.248

Parent 0.275 0.272 1.000 1.000 1.000 2.274 0.276
Satisf 0.538 0.534 0.845 0.633 0.732 2.265 0.538
Nat&Rec 0.851 0.650 0.741 2.193
Urb&Div 0.556 0.553 0.898 0.773 0.815 2.146 0.556
SpReWe 0.878 0.723 0.783 1.206
WorPla 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.154
RegScho 0.952 0.898 0.908 1.422
PubTra 0.152 0.149 0.858 0.670 0.752 1.461 0.153
Walking 0.123 0.119 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.201 0.126
Sp&ReWd 0.158 0.152 0.879 0.725 0.784 1.350 0.160
ConsWen 0.116 0.109 0.891 0.756 0.804 1.129 0.119
SoViWen 0.833 0.599 0.714 1.181
PubTra 0.867 0.693 0.765 1.374

3
H.O. Nigro, S.E. González Císaro / Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives 7 (2020) 100207

Fig. 2. Relationship between activity time at the place of work and job opportunities.

Fig. 3. Relationship between satisfaction and time spent on activities related to nature and recreation on weekends.

4
H.O. Nigro, S.E. González Císaro /
When the satisfaction with the city increases, especially at the beginning
and at the end of the scale, the increase in the time spent on outdoor active
leisure activities is more visible (Fig. 3). It is verified that the amount of
time in contact with nature (White et al., 2019) and of exercise during
the week (Haskell et al., 2007) is related to physical and mental well-being.
The average time spent on sports & recreation activities during week-
days increases for residents of highly urbanized areas, with high income,
with high education level, younger than 29 years old, and male gender,
as well as during the spring.
4. Discussion
The results provide evidence that support the speculation that the asso-
ciation commonly observed between the perception of the urban environ-
ment and the travel patterns, and vice versa, is of direct and indirect
causality. The evaluation of the job opportunities directly and indirectly af-
fects (mediated by the adaptation to the urban environment) the emotional
and social values of the city brand. The success of this mediation derives in
subjective well-being. It is precisely the mutation from functional (material)
to emotional and social values that defines a Post-materialistic society.
The model proposed induces the existence of two social signals that in
turn involve values of the city brand: those derived from mandatory activ-
ities (functional values translated into economic metrics that define the
characteristics of smart cities), which influence the adaptation to the
urban environment, and discretionary activities (emotional, social and
self–expressive values), which are translated into psychological and ecolog-
ical metrics that define the characteristics of receptive cities.
The true contribution of the present study is not found in the percentage
of variance explained by the interaction between the City Satisfaction Index
and the space of social signals or in the depth of the analysis through the
model of structural equations based on partial least squares, but rather
the fact is that the model (beyond the variance) illuminates aspects of
human behavioural ecology through urban routines, which favours the
search for correct and quality data (right data) in the science of cities.
The model is limited to exposing some exploratory hypotheses that
must be replicated in the future with a larger sample of events and in cities
with different characteristics regarding their population, location, confor-
mation of the gross domestic product, unemployment rate, etc. Greater
and better evidence should be gathered from longitudinal and multilevel
studies for the conjectures developed here, using the travel records of
Georeferenced Social Networks on mobile technological supports. The rela-
tionships between citizen satisfaction and urban routines do not end in the
approach here proposed.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Both authors have worked collaboratively to contribute on this
research.
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