Did in-home activities fulfill activity needs during the COVID-19 pandemic?

Abstract

This study uses activity need to analyze the activity fulfillment of switching from out-of-home to in-home activities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Activity need is a measure to assess activity demand by determining how frequently people wish to engage in it. A panel time-use activity diary is used to collect daily activity in the Surakarta agglomeration area. Four-day activity diary was collected over one weekend day and three weekdays. This study analyzes the data from 402 residents using descriptive and inferential statistics. Exploratory factor analysis is used to identify the significant indicators of the built-environment variables. The activity attributes, sociodemographic characteristics, and the built environment are determined as the variables influencing activity needs. As a part of activity attributes, the activity types analyzed are working/studying, leisure, sports, and shopping. The activity needs that are unfulfilled by in-home activities include working/studying, sports, and leisure. The only activity need fulfilled by in-home activities is shopping. When analyzing sociodemographic variables, it was found that individuals with low income and older than 55 years have a greater risk of having unmet activity needs than those with the other indicators. Regarding the built environment, individuals living further away from the city center, administration office, junior/high school, hospital, and modern market have a higher level of unmet activity needs than those living in other residential environments.

Keywords:

• Activity attributes
• activity need
• built environment
• COVID-19 pandemic
• sociodemographic variables

REVIEWING EDITOR:

• Sanjay Kumar Shukla, Edith Cowan University, Australia

SUBJECTS:

• Planning
• urban studies
• urban policy

Acknowledgments

We want to thank to the Chancellor of Sebelas Maret University, who has given the decision that this research is funded by the RKAT PTNBH Universitas Sebelas Maret Fiscal Year 2023 through a Research scheme PENELITIAN DISERTASI DOKTOR (PDD-UNS) under Grant Number: 228/UN27.22/PT.01.03/2023.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The participants of this study did not give written consent for their data to be shared publicly, so due to the sensitive nature of the research supporting data is not available.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Amirotul Musthofiah Hidayah Mahmudah

Amirotul Musthofiah Hidayah Mahmudah is a lecturer in the civil engineering department of Sebelas Maret University. She received a B.Sc. degree in civil engineering from Sebelas Maret University (1994) and an M.Sc. in transportation engineering from the IHE Delft Netherland (2000). Currently, a Doctoral student working on transport behavior at Sebelas Maret University. Research interests include traffic engineering, public transport, and traffic safety.

Arif Budiarto

Arif Budiarto is an associate professor in the civil engineering department at Sebelas Maret University. He received a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering in 1989. He had a master’s degree in 1998 and a Doctorate in 2011 from Bandung Institute of Technology. His research interests are in road pavement and material, and travel behavior.

Tri Basuki Joewono

Tri Basuki Joewono is a Professor of Civil Engineering at the Department of Civil Engineering, Parahyangan Catholic University, Bandung, Indonesia, and served as Vice Rector for Academic Affairs from 2019 to 2023. He received a bachelor’s degree in 1997 and a master’s degree 1999 in civil engineering from the Parahyangan Catholic University, Indonesia. He had a master’s degree in transportation, specializing in transportation systems, in 2002 from Bandung Institute of Technology, Indonesia. He had a Ph.D. in Civil & Environmental Engineering, specializing in Transportation Engineering and Planning, from Saitama University, Japan 2007. The research interests are Public Transport, Transport Behaviour, Transport Modelling, Road Safety, and Transport in Developing Countries.

Tri Hardiyanti Asmaningrum

Tri Hardiyanti Asmaningrum graduated with a bachelor of civil engineering and planning education from Yogyakarta state university (2020) and a Master’s degree in specialized of transportation from Sebelas Maret University (2023). Her research interest focuses on investigated behavior of activity satisfaction, time fixity in different context and public transport planning.

Dimas Bayu Endrayana Dharmowijoyo

Dimas Bayu Endrayana Dharmowijoyo is an engineer at National Distribution Services, Australia, and a researcher at Universitas Janabadra, Indonesia. He received a Ph.D. in 2016 from the KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden. His research interest is investigating the complexity and variability of individuals’ activity-travel patterns and their effects on well-being and health.