Research project CP/62 (Research action CP)
Context
Motorised mobility has a great impact on greenhouse effect and needs to be fully understood. In parallel to this increasing mobility, we can observe that new forms of time organisation are emerging in society. To some extent, they rely on performances and availability of transport means but costs as well as physical energy required by trip are also determining elements. Tiredness and physical effort appear to be crucial factors: elderly people tend to become more car dependent, while children who are driven by car too often tend to become overweight due to a lack of physical exercise. In 1999 two independent Belgian national surveys were conducted and bring a wealth of complementary information on the topic. A comparative, combined and thorough exploitation of the data is still to be made.
Project description
Objectives
The study will be organised around three objectives that make up a two-year research project for two full-time researchers, fully integrated into their research team at the FUSL and FUNDP, and with the collaboration of TOR-VUB.
The three objectives are
(1) the comparative and combined analysis of the data of the national mobility survey (MOBEL, coordinated by the GRT for the Belgian federal Science Policy, and the Belgian time-use survey (BTUS, coordinated by TOR-VUB for NIS) preparing,
(2) closer scrutiny of the “law” of constant travel time budgets and that of constant correlated physical effort and tiredness, and leading to
(3) examination of the information needs regarding mobility and time-use surveys in light of the twofold prospect of the demise of the Belgian census and the integration of European statistics.
Methodology
The interest and originality of the project lies in the fact that it proposes to integrate qualitative and quantitative approaches on the one hand and to compare and cross MOBEL and BTUS data on the other hand. The comparative study of transport time budgets and mobility behaviours will be completed by an analysis of the physical effort generated by trips, according to means of transport, following an approach developed by Koebl and Helbing (“Energy Laws In Human Travel Behaviour”, New Journal of Physics 5 (2003) 48.1-48.). On the qualitative side, the project will use material from semi-directive interviews on mobility- and time-related practices, as well as on the perception of tiredness induced by travel and modes of transport.
Interaction between the different partners
GRT is conducting the quantitative analysis with the assistance of TOR for the exploitation of BTUS data and the participation of CES for statistical analysis on individual mobility and activity profiles. CES is conducting the qualitative investigation and collects semi-directive interviews. GRT participates to interview debriefings. The three partners will commonly elaborate propositions for future surveys design.
Link with International programmes
The research project is connected to the works of IATUR (International Association on Time Use Research) and to a project of the Predit programme (French Ministère de l’équipement et du logement) of preparatory analysis for the French national household mobility survey in 2007.
Expected results and/or products
One expected product is a fused database which could connect mobility data (time, distance, and correlated tiredness) with domestic activity data. A step will be made on the testing and validation of Koebl et Helbing hypothesis on constant physical effort for travel. Concerning survey methods, the examination of the consistency and the differences between the databases, added to the results of qualitative investigation will be a very valuable material to improve questionnaires and protocol designs for future surveys on mobility and time-use.
Partners
Activities
GRT and TOR are the specialists in MOBEL and BTUS databases as they have coordinated the making and the exploitation (cf. Hubert & Toint, La mobilité quotidienne des Belges, Namur, PUN, 2002 et Glorieux & Vandeweyer, Emploi du temps et loisirs, 2 Tomes, Bruxelles, INS 2003). GRT is also a leader group in Belgium on transport modelling and can expertise the interest of new data for mathematical models. CES has a great experience in qualitative researches and worked a lot on the link between mobility and temporality (cf. Montulet & Kaufmann, Mobilités, Fluidités… Libertés ?, Bruxelles, PFUSL, 2004). Every partner has extensive national and international networks in the field of statistic surveys (NIS, Eurostat, Insee, Inrets, etc.)
Contact Information
Co-ordinator
Philippe Toint
Facultés Universitaires Notre-Dame de la Paix de Namur (FUNDP)
Groupe de Recherche sur les Transports (GRT)
Rempart de la Vierge 8
B-5000 Namur
Tel: +32 (0)81 72 49 17
Fax: +32 (0)81 72 49 14
philippe.toint@fundp.ac.be
http://www.grt.be
Contact person
Jean-Paul Hubert
Tel: +32 (0)81 72 49 16
Fax: +32 (0)81 72 49 14
jean-paul.hubert@fundp.ac.be
Partners
Michel Hubert
Facultés Universitaires Saint-Louis (FUSL)
Centre d’études sociologiques (CES)
Boulevard du Jardin Botanique 43
B-1000 Bruxelles
Tel: +32 (0)2 211 78 75
Fax: +32 (0)2 211 79 95
hubert@fusl.ac.be
http://www.fusl.ac.be/ces/
Bertrand Montulet
Facultés Universitaires Saint-Louis (FUSL)
Centre d’études sociologiques (CES)
Boulevard du Jardin Botanique 43
B-1000 Bruxelles
Tel: +32 (0)2 211 79 30
Fax: +32 (0)2 211 79 95
montulet@fusl.ac.be
http://www.fusl.ac.be/ces/
Ignace Glorieux
Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB)
Vakgroep Sociologie
Onderzoeksgroep TOR
Pleinlaan 2
B-1050 Brussel
Tel: +32 (0)2 629 22 80
Fax: +32 (0)2 629 30 52
ignace.glorieux@vub.ac.be
http://www.vub.ac.be
Contact person
Jessie Vandeweyer
Tel: +32 (0)2 629 27 83
Fax: +32 (0)2 629 30 52
jessie.vandeweyer@vub.ac.be
Users Committee
Olivier COLLA, Société de transports intercommunaux bruxellois (STIB) -
Maatschappij voor Intercommunaal Vervoer van Brussel (MIVB)
Luc MARECHAL, Ministère de la Région Wallonne, Direction générale de l'Aménagement du territoire, du Logement et du Patrimoine, Division de l'Aménagement et de l'Urbanisme
Dominique GUSBIN, Federal Planning Bureau
Marc MASY Société régionale wallonne du Transport (SRWT)
Véronique RENARD National Institute of Statistics (NIS) - Statistics Belgium
Sylvaine MORELLE, SPF Mobilités et Transports - FOD Mobiliteit en Vervoer
Peter WITTOECK, SPF Santé publique, Sécurité de la Chaîne alimentaire et Environnement - FOD Volksgezondheid, Veiligheid van de Voedselketen en Leefmilieu
Gabriel TORRES, Brussels Institute for Management of the Environment (IBGE-BIM)
MOTUS & QUANLI: Intégration des recherches quantitatives et qualitatives sur la mobilité quotidienne et les temporalités sociales : rapport final
Castaigne, Marie - Cornélis, Eric - Hubert, Jean-Paul ... et al Bruxelles : Politique scientifique fédérale, 2007 (SP1736)
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MOTUS & QUANLI: Intégration des recherches quantitatives et qualitatives sur la mobilité quotidienne et les temporalités sociales : annexes
Bruxelles : Politique scientifique fédérale, 2007 (SP1737)
[To download]
