This paper discusses the structure of regional factors with social capital (SC) that affect low carbon travel behavior in local cities. Nowadays, it is necessary to develop low carbon travel behavior that uses public transportation, bicycles and walking to reduce green house gas emissions. Although compact city planning and transportation network building are known as useful tools, city governments don't have enough budgets and authorization to carry out these programs. Therefore it is important that they use unique public awareness to develop low carbon travel behavior. This study focuses on SC to show unique public awareness of each region. The definition of SC used in this paper is from Putnam (1993) “SC refers to features of social organization, such as trust, norms, and networks that can improve the efficiency of society by facilitating coordinated actions.”
The case study city was Hakodate City, Japan. How each factor affects low carbon travel behavior was analyzed by a logit model, and the structures of the factors were analyzed by a covariance structure analysis. As a result it was recognized that the influence of SC affects low carbon travel behavior so that it becomes stronger in the middle and outer regions of the city. Moreover, the networks of broad areas influence car ownership in the middle region, and the networks of narrow areas influence car ownership in the outer region of the city.
JEL Classification: R40, Q54
