Abstract
There is a question whether residents in the local context of developing cities in Asia can support changes in the built environment for the purpose of travel. This study analyzed the determinants of residential satisfaction using data from 948 respondents collected through a face-to-face questionnaire in the metropolitan area of Jakarta, Indonesia. The potential determinants of residential satisfaction included the respondents’ subjective evaluations of residential environments; the extent of their social interaction with neighbors; and built environment conditions including housing, neighborhood characteristics, and geographical location of the residence; in addition to individual socio-demographics and activities. Structural equation modeling was applied to simultaneously estimate the impacts of residential environments on residential satisfaction and individual activities. The results indicate that neighborhood-level built environment conditions have a significant impact on residential satisfaction, such that a larger residence lot size and shorter travel time to the nearest bus stop significantly increased residential satisfaction. The results indicate that the roles of the built environment, as an instrument for enabling sustainable travel and for enhancing residential satisfaction in our study area, can be in conflict. This reinforces the importance of setting a land use policy target aiming to create sustainable travel that can be shared by local residents.
