ABSTRACT
This chapter connects the time, space and travel framework with the concepts and developments of the activity-based approach of mobility research this work refers to. It explains the temporal phenomena in individual travel behaviour which form the rhythmic structure of human life. The ABA approach considers trips and activities to be embedded in sequences. The complexity of daily travel patterns is subject to several temporal patterns determined by a set of individual characteristics of the traveller. Rhythmic patterns are fundamental consequences of habitual behaviour. Habitual or routine travel behaviour is the reuse of behavioural segments, sequences or more generally solutions in identical or similar decision situations. Behavioural equilibrium is achieved when all details which determine travel behaviour have remained constant over a sufficiently long period of time and the behaviour has been completely adjusted to environmental factors. Heidemann developed his socio-ecological approach to explaining activity and travel behaviour based on theories from research into ecosystems.
