Resilience studies have been focal in fields of ecology, geography, transport engineering, and psychology. However, behavioral resilience has been an abstract term for decades. Under this context, Prof. WANG Jiaoe’s team at the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences have made a new progress in understanding how travel behavior resilience is crystallized when human mobility encounters unprecedented disturbance events. They have proposed comprehensive studies encompassing theory, method, and empirical research to shed light on this important topic.

In terms of theory, they have defined travel behavior resilience based on before-, during-, after-characteristics of individual or group mobility. A conceptual theoretical framework has been proposed, considering the dynamic equilibrium characteristics of transport supply and demand. This framework helps capture the three stages of variation in travel behavior, namely, dramatic reduction, rapid growth, and fluctuation recovery.

A corresponding evaluation methodology has been constructed, which emphasizes a process-oriented approach with temporal continuity or the capture of inflection points in travel behavior. The research team proposed a measurement of travel behavior resilience relying on a resilience triangle, enabling the wide use of the assessment.

In the empirical studies, using multisource big data such as mobile phone signaling data and smart card data, researchers have explored the spatial heterogeneity and group differences in travel behavior resilience. For example, in Beijing, it was found that areas with more socioeconomic activities show greater travel behavior resilience. Additionally, age and socioeconomic attributes of mobility groups significantly affect their travel behavior resilience according to the case study in Kunming.

The study would contribute to policymaker on urban management and resilient city. The related results have been published in Journal of Geographical Sciences. 

Reference:

HUANG Jie, WANG Jiaoe*. Travel behavior resilience: Theory, method, and empirical studies. Journal of Geographical Sciences. 34, 1657–1674 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11442-024-2265-4.