1 EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN LAND-USE SYSTEM AND TRAVEL BEHAVIOUR: SOME FIRST FINDINGS 45 th Congress of the European Regional Science Association 23-27 August 2005, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam Veronique Van Acker 1 , Frank Witlox 2 1 Department of Geography, Ghent University, Krijgslaan 281 - S8, B-9000 Gent. e-mail: Veronique.VanAcker@UGent.be (corresponding author) 2 Department of Geography, Ghent University, Krijgslaan 281 - S8, B-9000 Gent. e-mail: Frank.Witlox@UGent.be Abstract Theories on the reciprocal relationships between land-use and transport address changes in location decisions and travel behaviour of private actors (households and firms) due to alternations in the transport system, respectively land-use system. Although the impact of land-use system on travel behaviour has been the subject of much research (for reviews, see, e.g. Handy, 2002; Stead and Marshall, 2001; Crane, 2000; Wegener and Fürst, 1999), there is still no consensus about the strength of this relationship. One explanation may be the changing impact of different types of variables influencing the problem. Initially only land-use variables were taken into account, but nowadays socio- economic variables are also incorporated. Still, within ‘homogeneous groups’, there may be attitudes, lifestyles, perceptions, and preferences which can have an impact on land-use and/or travel behaviour. Academic literature on the latter remains scarce and the main focus of the existing behavioural literature is the impact of residential location on travel choices, especially modal choice. However, little work has thus far been done on other dimensions of travel choices (e.g., distance, time) and other location types (e.g., commercial, industrial, recreational). Less is known about the reverse relationship, e.g. the impact of the transport system on location decisions of households and firms (land-use system). A difference in time-scale is a problem. After all, transformations in land-use occur much slower (years) compared to transformations in travel behaviour (days, weeks, months). In this paper we explore several possibilities to fill in some of the gaps in the knowledge on the land-use/transport system. Understanding the two-way interaction between land-use and travel behaviour involves having (i) data on land-use patterns, socio-economic background of individuals and their attitudes, perceptions and preferences towards land-use and travel; and (ii) a methodology, dealing with potential multiple directions of causality. The first issue can be achieved by combining empirical, revealed and stated preference research. The second methodological question can be solved using structural equation modelling (SEM). This is a modelling technique which can handle a large number of endogenous and exogenous variables. Because of the multiple directions of causality that can be explored, SEM can help us to define the relationship between revealed preference data and stated preference data. Key words Land-use/transport system, Travel behaviour, Attitude measurement, Structural equation modelling.