Motivating and incentivizing the adoption and maintenance of travel behavior change (Case study: Stavanger, Norway)

Ayda Joudvi

PhD Candidate

Northwestern University

Abstract

Transportation is one of the most critical challenges in modern cities. A considerable amount of energy consumption and GHG emissions in cities are due to transport needs. Statistics from Norway also suggest that the energy consumption for transportation needs has grown by 32% from 1990 until 2020. Therefore, developing sustainable transport options is at the core of any climate plan, but different studies also suggest that providing alternative options does not necessarily lead to a change in travel behavior.

Changing individual travel behaviors has proved challenging since they heavily rely on the availability of infrastructure and time and cost considerations, among many other factors. Therefore, it is essential to study how to encourage behavioral change in this sector and develop appropriate planning solutions that accelerate these changes.
To explore these challenges in the context of Norwegian city, this study focus on travel mode change from car to cycling in Stavanger, Norway.

Despite the facts that, increasing the share of cycling in modal share is one of the main objectives of the Norwegian national transport policy or in case of Stavanger city or having the Norway’s most expensive dedicated bicycle road (estimated cost 1.9 mil.kr) only 7% of trips are taken by bicycle compared to 56% taken by car.
Having this all-in mind, this study in particular try to answer the following questions:

1. What are the factors and personal experiences that influence changes in travel behavior within the Norwegian context?
a. What are the reasons behind selecting a specific mode of transportation for daily commutes to and from work?
b. How do individuals perceive and experience their daily commute in terms of mode of travel to and from work?
2. What is the effect of motivators and stimulators for travel behavior change in the Norwegian context?
a. What are the most influential motivators or catalysts driving changes in travel behavior within the Norwegian context?
b. What are the primary obstacles and barriers to sustaining travel behavior change?
c. How does knowledge about health benefits impact travel behavior change?
d. To what extent does experiencing health improvements act as a motivator to initiate and maintain travel behavior change?

Bio

My name is Ayda Joudavi, and I am Ph.D. fellow at the University of Stavanger (Norway) in the City and Regional Planning faculty and recently I have started a position as a PhD visiting scholar at McCormick school of engineering and environmental planning.
I got my first master’s degree in 2016, in Architecture and urban planning with a special approach to post-disaster and post-war reconstruction of the built environment, from Shahid Beheshti University of Tehran, Iran (SBU).
I obtained my second master’s degree in ‘City and Regional planning’ from the University of Stavanger (UiS) in 2020.
I am pursuing my Ph.D. under "EAA and Norway Grant," collaborating with Polish and Norwegian institutions on an applied research project, namely "Green coin." The main idea of this project is to promote pro-environmental behaviors through a reward-based system and gamification. The project's final product will be a smartphone application that will be tested in the pilot phase for the residents of Gdansk, Poland. (You can read more about the project at Greencoin)

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