Travel attractors as an operational concept in the study of urban mobility

Abstract

This communication exposes the strategies and techniques used for surveys and processing of mobility surveys in travel attractors, developed in the 2013-2017 period in the city of La Plata, whose purpose was to investigate the city’s mobility patterns. The field work owes its origin to the theoretical framework of the doctoral thesis “Non-economic rationality of urban passenger mobility” applied in the context of the PPID U002 project1. The concept of travel attractor is part of the theory of travel generation (ITE, 1991) and is defined as places, areas or areas where non-residential activities converge that attract passenger trips. The article exposes the process of elaboration and processing of surveys and the successive methodological adaptations made for research. The main conclusions are developed around the conceptual and methodological aspects, pointing out, on the one hand, the importance of valuing the study of attractors for the integral approach of the city and mobility and, on the other hand, highlighting the value of the collective construction of knowledge in the operationalization of field work.