How does residential self-selection impact car use? Considering elements of lifestyle, personality, travel attitude, residential attitude, and travel satisfaction

• Developing a framework utilizing structural equation modeling (SEM) to integrate multiple subjective sources of residential self-selection (RSS). • Examining travel behavior through lifestyle, personality, travel attitudes, residential attitudes, and travel satisfaction. • Conducting the study in unique city, Tehran, as capital of Iran, a developing country. • Demonstrating the significant effects of attitudes on built environment (BE) and TB. • Highlighting the prominent role of vehicle-oriented attitudes as a key determinant factor in RSS. There is an ongoing debate considering the causality of the relationship between the built environment (BE) and travel behavior (TB) among researchers. The main issue in this regard is residential self-selection (RSS) which refers to the tendency of individuals to choose a residential location based on their ability to travel, needs, and preferences. In this study, the travel behavior of people of Tehran, the capital of Iran, a developing country, was assessed through a questionnaire including questions about lifestyle, personality, travel attitudes, residential attitudes, and travel satisfaction. Then, using structural equation modeling (SEM), the relationship between subjective variables (i.e., lifestyle, personality, etc.) and commute mode choice has been investigated. The results indicate that the most influential factor of each variable’s category on residential location choice is: family-oriented among lifestyle factors, disciplined among personality factors, car-oriented among transportation attitudes, and walking safety among residential attitudes. Furthermore, the most influential factors of each variable’s category on increasing personal car usage are extrovert, patient, car-oriented, and low-density oriented attitudes, respectively. The results suggest that the indirect effect of attitudes on commute mode choice is significant through the characteristics of the residential location as a mediator variable and indicate that neglecting the effect of attitudes in the BE – car usage relationship will overestimate the actual effect of the BE on car use. Therefore, future policymaking in transportation planning should be adopted while considering the effect of RSS so that the expected impacts would match reality.