Daily travel behaviour, activity monotony, and life satisfaction among urban youth in makassar, Indonesia

Urban travel behaviour is often assumed to reflect diverse daily experiences that enhance well-being, yet this view overlooks the repetitive structure of everyday life. This study examines the relationship between travel behaviour, activity monotony, and life satisfaction among urban youth, using longitudinal data from 693 individuals, covering over 440,000 trips and 390,000 activities across more than 150 days. The study was conducted in Makassar, Indonesia, a rapidly growing city characterized by motorcycle dominance and limited public transport provision. Monotony is a multidimensional construct that includes spatial concentration, activity diversity, routine structure, and leisure allocation. The results show that activity-related monotony is the most consistent factor associated with life satisfaction. Greater activity diversity is positively related to well-being, whereas dominance of a single activity type is negatively associated. Spatial concentration shows a weaker negative relationship, while leisure share is strongly and positively associated with life satisfaction. Importantly, monotony does not uniformly produce negative outcomes. Although a stronger routine is associated with lower life satisfaction, temporal structure itself is not significant, suggesting that routine may also provide stability. A threshold-guided typology further identifies distinct daily life patterns, showing that more diverse and leisure-oriented lifestyles are associated with higher life satisfaction.