About
Biography
Jason specializes in land use and transportation interactions and planning for quality of life. He is internationally well-known for his research on residential self-selection in the relationships between the built environment and travel behavior. His recent work focuses on machine learning applications in the land use-transportation research.
Jason has been oriented toward international collaboration. He works closely with scholars from the UK, the Netherlands, Norway, Australia, Japan, South Korea, and China. Jason was the Chair of International Association for China Planning. He has been promoting urban planning scholarship in China by collaborating with Chinese researchers, uniting Chinese scholars, bridging Chinese and international scholars, and organizing international conferences and workshops.
Jason leads research development in the fields of planning and transportation by editing journals and special issues. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Transportation Research (TR) Today, a new journal of the TR family, and an associate editor of Journal of Planning Education and Research and Transport Policy. He was the Co-Editor-in-Chief of Transportation Research Part D. He guest edited eight issues for six journals, including Journal of Regional Science, Journal of Transport and Land Use, Transport Policy, Transportation Letters, Transportation Research Part D, and Travel Behavior and Society.
View Jason Cao's CV in PDF format.
Education
PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering (University of California, Davis, 2006)
MS in Statistics (University of California, Davis, 2005)
MS in Management Science and Engineering (Tsinghua University, 2001)
BS in Civil engineering (Tsinghua University, 1998)
Recent Publications
Das, K., Ramaswami, A., Fan, Y., and Cao, J. (2026). Unpacking the association of multiple urban infrastructures with subjective well-being: A comparison of three measures. Journal of Planning Education and Research.
He, N., Jian, M., Zhang, H., Cao, J., Liu, S., and Li, G. (2026). Decoding spatial patterns, city roles, and community structures in intercity express delivery network. Journal of Transport Geography, 135, 104742.
Li, W., Cao, J., Hou, Q., Ma, X., Zheng, Y., and Wei, Y. (2026). The car ownership puzzle: Deconstructing parking, sprawl, and mobility. Travel Behaviour and Society, 45, 101341.
Wang, X., Hua, M., Liu, X., Gu, T., and Cao, J. (2026). How does metro expansion shape the determinants of commuting mode choice? The rising transportation characteristics. Transportation Research Part A, 214, 105276.
Yang, H., Yao, Z., Parady, G., Yang, L., and Cao, J. (2026). Asymmetric drivers of older passengers’ satisfaction with rapid transit: A mixed-methods approach. Transportation Research Part D, 158, 105451.
Zhao, D. and Cao, J. (2026). Beyond linearity: Asymmetric effects of service factors on electric vehicle user satisfaction across powertrain types. Transportation Research Part A, 211, 105132.
Zhao, D., Cao, J., and Dong, Z. (2026). Evolving nonlinear impacts of service factors on shared autonomous vehicle service quality. Transportation Research Part D, 156, 105374.
Cao, J. (2025). Transformative impacts of machine learning applications in land use-travel research. Artificial Intelligence for Transportation, 2, 100021.
Cao, J. and Tao, T. (2025). Can an identified environmental correlate of car ownership serve as a practical planning tool? Transportation Research Part A, 191, 104304.
