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Space-Time Behavior Research and Application in China

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Space-Time Integration in Geography and GIScience

Abstract

The space-time behavior approach has become an influential methodology in Chinese urban geography. This chapter provides an overview of space-time behavior research in China, introducing theoretical and methodological progress, as well as key themes and findings from recent empirical studies. We argue that space-time behavior research offers a new perspective for understanding the complexity and diversity of human behavior patterns during the large-scale spatial and institutional transition in Chinese cities. Improvement of data quality and analytic tools has facilitated GIS-based geovisualization of space-time activity patterns in Chinese cities and improved understanding of space-time behavior decision within constraints by the built environment. Especially, how dramatic spatial restructuring in transitional urban China impacted on individual’s daily life experiences, which further related to social equity and environmental sustainability issues. Furthermore, planning practices based on space-time behavior analysis in the realms of urban transportation, tourism, and low carbon city planning in urban China are introduced in this chapter. We also argue that, while Chinese urban geographers have made more methodological progress in data collection and analytic tools, theoretical development still lags behind compared to the space-time behavior approach in the West. Finally, this chapter concludes by discussing key theoretical and practical challenges for future development of space-time activity research in China.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Beijing has large sample trip survey in 1986, 2000, and 2005. Guangzhou has trip survey in 1984 (3 % population sample) and in 1998 (ten thousands sample). The National Bureau of Statistics of China launched a national level time-use survey in 2008.

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Acknowledgements

Research partially funded by the National Key Technology Research and Development Program of China (2012BAJ05B04).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Urban and Economic Geography, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China

    Yanwei Chai &  Tana

  2. School of Public Policy and Management, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China

    Zhilin Liu

  3. Institute of Beijing Studies, Beijing Union University, Beijing, 100101, China

    Yan Zhang

Authors
  1. Yanwei Chai
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  2. Zhilin Liu
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  3. Yan Zhang
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  4. Tana
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yanwei Chai .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography and Geographic Information Science, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, USA

    Mei-Po Kwan

  2. Association of American Geographers, Washington, District of Columbia, USA

    Douglas Richardson

  3. Department of Geography, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, China

    Donggen Wang

  4. Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Chenghu Zhou

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Chai, Y., Liu, Z., Zhang, Y., Tana (2015). Space-Time Behavior Research and Application in China. In: Kwan, MP., Richardson, D., Wang, D., Zhou, C. (eds) Space-Time Integration in Geography and GIScience. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9205-9_3

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