analysis of the effects of social and economic factors on energy consumption, with emphasis on family travel patterns (case s‌tudy: malek-shahr and amir-arab neighborhoods in isfahan)

The high consumption of non-renewable energy and fossil fuel pollution has been a significant issuein recent decades. the transportation sector, which is affected by travel patterns, has a subs tantial s take in energyuse; these patterns depend on various factors, including social and economic factors. the purpose of this paper is toexamine the effects of social and economic factors on energy consumption, with an emphasis on family travel patterns;for this purpose, the malek-shahr and amir-arab neighborhoods in isfahan, iran, were selected as the research cases.a mixed-paradigm methodology was used. the required information to examine the measures and the related factorswas obtained by documentation and field s tudy; the classified random sampling method was used to complete theques tionnaires. in addition, the mann-whitney u tes t was used to examine the significant differences between theneighborhoods considering social, economic, and travel pattern variables. also, factor analysis and regression wereapplied to carry out path analysis and explain how the factors and variables were related. the results indicate that themalek-shahr neighborhood has a significantly better social and economic s tatus and more arbitrary travel patternsthan the amir-arab neighborhood. it was also found that there was no significant relationship between the social factorand the travel patterns in both neighborhoods. the economic factor played a major role in this respect; this was morepronounced in the amir-arab neighborhood afflicted by a lower economic s tatus.