Abstract: From the perspective of behaviorism, the travel behavior of the urban resident is explored at the community scale. An example of Guangzhou is discussed and 218 samples from three communities are provided. Two Structural Equation Models (SEM) are developed respectively to explore the path relationships between various variables. Moreover, the mechanism of interaction between attributes and travel behaviors of residents are presented. The results indicate the distinctions between different urban residents’travel behaviors which result from various residents' attributes and community locations. Generally speaking, the travel pattern, travel timetable and travel frequency are influenced by travel motivation, which is determined by the residents' attributes and community location. Among all of the variables, residents’attributes and community location are the fundamental variables, while the former is the key variable. What's more, residents’attributes and community location have a significant impact on travel decision-making of the residents through four sub-path systems. The Gender Sub-path presents that females conduct more non-work trips which raise travel frequency. The Age Sub-path suggests that the older residents prefer a low-cost travel mode with more non-work travel intentions, thus their travel frequency is increased. The Income Sub-path indicates that the work trip plays a significant role in daily travel of high-income residents who prefer the high-cost travel mode, and as a result, their travel frequency is decreased. The Community Location Sub-path indicates that the residents in suburban communities care more about travel expenses than the residents in the city center; hence, the reduction of non-work trips will decrease their travel frequency.

Key words: urban community, travel behavior, SEM (structural equation model), Guangzhou