Reducing car dependency while enabling active travel is a key objective of urban planners and policymakers. While land-use policies that improve access to amenities are expected to foster sustainable travel modes, the understanding of causal relationship between built environment (BE) changes, travel behavior, and travel-related self-selection remains limited, particularly when considering events such as self-selection and attitude endogeneity after built-environment exposure. This study examines how residential relocation, a major life event disrupting mobility routine, influences daily cycling, car use, and travel preferences in the Netherlands. Using four waves (2013–2016) of the Netherlands Mobility Panel, we analyze nearly 1000 relocated individuals through Random-Intercept Cross-Lagged Panel Models to capture the dynamic interrelations between BE change, mode use, and preferences while accounting for life events and sociodemographic factors. Built environment changes are measured through shifts in density, proximity to daily amenities, and land-use mix after relocation. Results suggest that moving to denser, more accessible neighborhoods encourages cycling and reduces car use and car preference, whereas relocation to less accessible areas increase car reliance. No evidence is found that pre-relocation preferences significantly influence built environment change. Important life events, particularly childbirth, can also shape mobility patterns post-relocation. These insights highlight the importance of land-use policies that promote compact and accessible urban developments as effective interventions for encouraging sustainable travel behaviors. This can be particularly relevant to the Dutch context, where the development of new neighborhoods has become a national priority in the last decade.
Filho et al. (Sat,) studied this question.