Is a new home, a new job or parenthood a window of opportunity for changed travel habits? In a new study at CTF, Service Research Center at Karlstad University, researchers will investigate how important life events affect people's travel habits in order to gain more knowledge about what motivates people to long-term sustainable travel.
"Becoming an adult, getting a driver's license, moving away from home, starting a family or breaking up, changing jobs or retiring, are important life events. The main question we ask is, how does travel habits change when life changes? We want to understand people's ability and motivation to travel sustainably," says Lars E Olsson, Professor of Psychology at CTF.
During the next four years, he will run the study in a new research project together with Margareta Friman, Professor of Psychology at CTF. The project is funded by the Swedish Energy Agency.
The researchers will study life events and other psychological factors in different generations to identify what influences sustainable and resource-efficient travel. Important factors will be compared between generations to see if there are lessons to be learned from one generation to another.
Focus on generation Z
The researcher will focus on young adults between the ages of 18 and 23. Today, this group generally travel sustainably and the researchers want to see how this can be preserved over time. Perhaps younger generations can learn and benefit from how older age groups changed their travel habits during crucial life-changing events.
"Changed or maintained travel habits among young adults can result in reduced car use by as much as 35 percent during the coming twenty-year period," says Lars E. Olsson. "Increased knowledge of how young people think, and view their everyday travel is important for the future, and can help us to a faster adjust to a more sustainable everyday travel."
Results from the project are important for the transformation towards a sustainable and energy-efficient travel, and can be used to develop supportive structures and improved communication for sustainable travel during different stages in life.
The project "Life events and energy-efficient travel across generations" has a budget of SEK 4.8 million and is conducted within the Swedish Energy Agency's program "Curiosity-driven research for a sustainable energy system".
