Trips and their CO2 emissions to and from a shopping center

•We extract trips to and from a shopping center and measure their CO2 emissions.•We reveal hourly-based CO2 emissions during weekdays and weekends.•We report a heterogeneous distribution of CO2 emissions in spatial areas and streets.•We find that most of the trips follow an optimal route in terms of CO2 emissions.•The shopping center is well located with low CO2 emissions via relocation planning.

Previous studies have focused on entire trips within a geographical region, while only a few have examined trips to and from a city landmark. This paper examines trips and their CO2 emissions to and from a shopping center from a time–space perspective, and it further considers how this information can be used in relocation planning. It is a case study in the Borlänge city in mid-Sweden where trips to the city’s largest shopping mall are scrutinized. We use GPS tracking data of car trips starting and ending at the shopping center. Firstly, we analyze the traffic emission patterns from a time–space perspective where the temporal patterns reveal hourly-based traffic emission dynamics. The spatial analysis uncovers a heterogeneous distribution of traffic emissions in spatial areas and individual street segments. Secondly, we find the observed trips mostly agree with an optimal route in terms of CO2 emissions. Drawing on this finding, we thirdly evaluate the location of the current shopping center by comparing it to two competing locations. We conclude that the two competing locations, being in the vicinity of the current one, would induce an insignificant improvement in terms of CO2 emissions.