Exploring Residential Dissonance from a Household Perspective: A Gendered Examination of Resident Characteristics in a Small Chinese City

The extent individuals can choose a residential location based on their travel needs and preferences is an important topic within the realm of research on land use-transport interactions. However, little attention has been paid to the characteristics of residents who experience a dissonance between their preferred and actual residence in terms of travel preferences (i.e., residential dissonance), and even less from a household perspective. Using household-level survey data collected in Ganyu, China, this study explores the characteristics of dissonant residents in terms of age, income, education level, number of children, commuting distances to the workplace, perceived accessibility, and car availability within both urban and suburban neighborhoods, and how these differ between women and men within dual-earner households. We found that in urban neighborhoods, women with only one child prefer to avoid using e-bikes, leading to a higher incidence of residential dissonance. Also, perceived accessibility was found to be significantly associated with residential dissonance for both women and men: residents do not subjectively think of themselves as dissonants based on their perceived accessibility, despite being objectively defined as dissonants. Moreover, couples tend to experience dissonance together, suggesting that the attitudes of one household member may be affected by their partner. Our findings emphasize the importance of considering gender differences from a household perspective, as well as recognizing the impact of perceived accessibility when studying the characteristics of dissonant residents.