he capital area of Iceland is comparable to many European cities in terms of weather and culture. However, use and ownership of cars exceeds that of most European cities, making transport the most intensive GHG consumption category in Iceland in the consumption-based carbon footprint. Iceland has taken part and set mitigation goals for the future to reduce CO₂ emissions. Iceland has ratified the Paris Agreement and the City of Reykjavík recently released a plan to become carbon neutral by 2040. To be able to decarbonize Reykjavík or Iceland as a whole, the transport sector needs to be studied.
The research goal was to see if there is a connection between residential location and travel behavior. The study area was the capital area of Iceland, which is combined of seven municipalities. The area was divided into three zones according to distance from the city center: 0-5km, 5-10km and over 10km. With these zones, the goal was to see if travel behavior changes from downtown Reykjavík to the suburbs. Both local and long-distance travel were analyzed. Local travel refers to daily distances traveled as well as choice of travel mode. Long-distance travel refers both to travel in Iceland and flights abroad. Data used in analyses came both from a survey and interviews.