Citation

Burnett P, Hanson S. Transp. Res. Rec. 1979; 723: 11-24.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1979, Transportation Research Board, National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences USA, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This paper contains arguments and data analysis for a new mathematical approach for the study of human behavior such as intraurban travel. Current disaggregate models are criticized because of their unrealistic axioms about (a) the simplicity of behavior incorporated in the concept of the dependent variable, a trip; (b) the constancy, ad hoc differentiation, or random variability of choice sets between persons; and (c) the complexity and uniformity of decision strategies and rules about how utilities for options are formed and manipulated. Arguments are advanced for more realistic approaches to movement; for inductive data analysis to specify new descriptive choice models, based on different assumptions; and hence for a consistent underlying microeconomic theory that is based on more realistic axioms for the ultimate derivation of improved analytic models of travel. The paper contains exploratory small-sample analysis to demonstrate that, by reconceiving movement as complex, hypotheses can be formulated that fit standard kinds of travel data as well as current models that have different, less realistic assumptions. Movement is thought of as (a) a sequence of events differentiated by time and space coordinates, (b) choice sets that individuals and groups find systematically limited and variant because of the spatial properties of cities, and (c) decision strategies that are simpler and more variant than currently believed because of the differences in choice sets. This paves the way for the further development of the alternative approach proposed for the study of movement as complex human behavior.