An Analysis of the Commuting and Jobs–Housing Patterns of Older Adult Workers

Many researchers have explored the relationships between land use and transportation via the jobs–housing balance concept. This type of research involves the disaggregation of commuter groups to understand variances in the relationship between land use and transportation outcomes. Disaggregation by commuter age has not been considered, however. To address this gap, we analyze spatially and temporally disaggregate census data for five areas in Florida. Using several jobs–housing balance metrics we compare and contrast the outcomes of different commuter age groups, across different geographies, and over time (2002–2011). Generally, commutes vary more by region than they do by any age category of commuter. Most of the differences in the commute metrics among the older age group tend to depend on where those commuters live. The results also suggest that there are more efficient and less sprawling commuting landscapes for older workers located near other older workers.     

Detecting arbitrarily shaped clusters in origin-destination flows using ant colony optimization

An origin-destination (OD) flow can be defined as the movement of objects between two locations. These movements must be determined for a range of purposes, and strong interactions can be visually represented via clustering of OD flows. Identification of such clusters may be useful in urban planning, traffic planning and logistics management research. However, few methods can identify arbitrarily shaped flow clusters. Here, we present a spatial scan statistical approach based on ant colony optimization (ACO) for detecting arbitrarily shaped clusters of OD flows (AntScan_flow). In this study, an OD flow cluster is defined as a regional pair with significant log likelihood ratio (LLR), and the ACO is employed to detect the clusters with maximum LLRs in the search space. Simulation experiments based on AntScan_flow and SaTScan_flow show that AntScan_flow yields better performance based on accuracy but requires a large computational demand. Finally, a case study of the morning commuting flows of Beijing residents was conducted. The AntScan_flow results show that the regions associated with moderate- and long-distance commuting OD flow clusters are highly consistent with subway lines and highways in the city. Additionally, the regions of short-distance commuting OD flow clusters are more likely to exhibit ‘residential-area to work-area’ patterns.     

The diversity of diversity: a critique of geodemographic classification

We report on an examination of two geodemographic classification systems based on an analysis of 1991 census variables, for districts, wards and census enumeration districts in England and Wales. We also review the associations among the variables examined, the extent to which certain underlying components might account for the overall variation and the types of areas that are least typical. The results show that small areas are different in many different ways; a few dimensions cannot provide enough information to describe an area fully. Diversity on most scales remains even after geodemographicclassification, emphasizing the advantages of task-specific classification.     

COMMUTING DIRECTIONALITY,A FUNCTIONAL MEASURE FOR METROPOLITAN AND NONMETROPOLITAN AREA STANDARDS

The daily journey to work is ubiquitous in American life. Portraying commuting behavior graphically at the subcounty level, however, has been hampered by technical obstacles. With desktop GIS and new analytical tools, the spatial particulars of commuting can be given clarity. This paper explores the use of a spatial statistic, the mean weighted direction of journey-to-work flows, to aggregate and depict commuting at the census tract level for the purpose of delineating metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas. Using 1990 census data for Iowa, tract-to-tract flow vectors and resultant vectors are calculated and drawn for each census tract, and a set of functional areas for the state is produced. The research suggests that the concept of commuting directionality is a community characteristic requiring further attention. Directionality may be a useful component in a census-tract-level national settlement classification system made possible with disaggregated data and annual updates through the American Community Survey. [Key words: metropolitan areas, commuting, GIS, census tract, settlement classification.]     

THE GEOGRAPHY OF URBAN COMMUTING FIELDS: SOME EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FROM NEW ENGLAND

Cities have become increasingly interdependent. Yet we continue to think of the urban landscape in terms of mutually exclusive, monocentric regions. Data from New England suggest a richer, overlapping geography of metropolitan-area commuting fields. New ways of conceptualizing flow-based systems are needed to understand urban settlement patterns better.     

Decentring poverty studies: Middle class alliances and the social construction of poverty

Editors' Note: The following is the tenth in the Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography Lecture Series. It is based on the plenary presentation of 13 April at the AAG held in Seattle in 2011. In this essay I explore relational poverty analysis to take seriously the spatially varied intersections of political‐economic, social ordering and cultural‐political processes in shaping understandings of poverty. My work as part of the Middle Class Poverty Politics Research Group employs a relational comparative methodology to theorize where, when and under what circumstances those framed as ‘middle class’ act in opposition to or in solidarity with those named as ‘poor’. Our approach focuses on the exploitative effects of capital accumulation, processes of unequal sociospatial categorization and political and discursive systems that limit or exclude the poor. Our research focuses on places experiencing capitalist crisis because intense periods of restructuring highlight material and discursive struggles over poverty. We conclude by identifying a research agenda focused on the ways in which poverty politics are constituted by the nonpoor through place and in the articulation of places with processes of political economy, governance and cultural politics.     

Thinking of England and taking care: family building strategies and infant mortality in England and Wales, 1891-1911

"Debates concerning the origins and development of the late nineteenth- to early twentieth-century declines in marital fertility and infant mortality in England and Wales have been centred largely on the material provided by answers to the ?special' questions in the 1911 census. In their published form these figures have restricted researchers to an examination of large scale geographic and social class differences in the levels and rates of decline of the two phenomena. This paper outlines research conducted on a sample of individual census returns from the 1911 census. From this data it becomes clear that for Victorian and Edwardian England ?where one lived' was rather more important than ?who one was' in determining both family building strategies and the survival of those children born."     

The border as an engine for mobility and spatial integration: A study of commuting in a Swedish–Norwegian context

The purpose of the study was to analyse how cross-border commuting differed from intranational commuting in Sweden, and how cross-border mobilities affected spatial integration. The authors analysed patterns and spatial flows of cross-border commuting by comparing them with characteristics of intranational commuting. In the article, they explore the assumption that the border constitutes an ‘engine’ for work-related mobility, which affects processes of spatial integration in cross-border areas. The empirical material comprised data from surveys of commuting from the Swedish county of Värmland to Norway and commuting within Värmland. The findings showed that cross-border commuting shared common features with intranational commuting, including how the frequency of commuting was dependent on distance. The motives for commuting differed, and the reasons for working in Norway were economic rather than professional. In terms of spatial integration, cross-border commuting was mainly one-directional, from Sweden to Norway, while leisure mobility and migration tended to be in the opposite direction. The authors conclude that the border region is characterised by integration through specialisation, which involves a permanent state of ‘transient’ mobility. Thus, a win-win situation can be distinguished, in which the border serves as a resource and an ‘engine’ for cross-border integration, mobility and economic activities.     

手机信令数据支撑下广州市过剩通勤及其空间分异格局

利用手机信令数据构建居委会尺度下的职住联系数据库,分析广州过剩通勤及其空间分异格局。研究发现,广州市过剩通勤为76.01%,与国内和西方国家城市相比处于较高水平,说明广州市职住空间组织效率偏低。过剩通勤的空间分异特征主要表现为：功能相对单一的郊区大型工业或房地产集聚区过剩通勤率偏高;传统市中心虽然就业机会集中,但因为高居住成本也出现较高的过剩通勤率;近郊区的特定功能区域,如大学城、偏农业发展型城郊村等区域出现较低的过剩通勤率;快速轨道交通（地铁）建设因降低了居民对通勤距离的敏感度而导致过剩通勤水平的提升,高过剩通勤率空间分布与地铁沿线和地铁站点分布存在一定的空间一致性。提升大城市的职住空间组织效率除需重点考虑提升区域职住空间平衡外,优化城市功能结构、降低住房成本区域差异等也需予以重点考虑。     

Examining the influence of settlement morphology and separation zones policies on the availability of shallow coal resources in the United Kingdom

In 2013, demand for coal in the UK was 60 million tonnes. Of this, 12.7 million tonnes (21%) came from indigenous sources; the majority of which was from surface mining (8.6 million tonnes). Many planning applications for surface mining of coal and the coal extraction that follows, are often a source of conflict with the communities who live within shallow coalfield areas. Policies which enforce a gap, or ‘separation zone’, between communities and surface coal mining operations exist in Wales and Scotland, but do not exist in England. This paper examines the effect of applying separation zones on the availability of shallow coal resources within two study areas; one within the South Wales Coalfield, the other within the Midlands Coalfield (comprising the Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire and North Derbyshire Coalfield areas). Density profiles and a shape-index algorithm are used to compare and contrast settlement morphology (i.e. shape or footprint) and distribution to determine whether they have a bearing on the areal extent of any potential separation zone applied. The implications on the availability of shallow coal resources of applying different separation zone distances around settlements within these two areas are explored. Results reveal that although the settlement morphology is important in determining the area of the separation zone, and has greatest influence in the South Wales Coalfield, the area of coal resource sterilised by the application of separation zones is greatest in the Midlands Coalfield due to it having a higher proportion of urban development situated on the surface extent of the shallow coal resource.     

Trends in commuting in England and Wales–becoming less sustainable?

Summary It is widely accepted that the nature and extent of commuting patterns worldwide represent a large slice of the overall environmental problems associated with transport use. There has been a long-standing concern over the 'congestion peaks' derived from daily travel-to-work patterns, and a preoccupation with the ways in which greener modes of commuting might contribute to a more environmentally benign transport system. This article uses Census data to focus on commuting patterns in England and Wales, concluding that, despite recent moves towards promoting a more integrated and sustainable transport system, worrying trends persist that would seem to undermine this strategy. On a more positive note, the Census data also suggest that many shorter trips might potentially be converted to 'greener modes' walking or cycling–with substantial environmental benefits.     

兰州市职住空间组织特征

以兰州市为实证研究对象,基于2010年兰州市内1 500份家庭调查问卷数据基础上,利用地理信息系统技术,对兰州市居民的职住空间组织特征进行实证研究。研究发现兰州市居民的居住地和就业地之间的平均距离为2.34 km,有一半居民的通勤距离在1 km内,和北京、上海、广州等东部大城市相比,兰州市的通勤距离比较短,还没有出现类似东部大城市的职住分离比较突出的现象。兰州市作为多中心、带状组团城市,各组团内部就业与居住基本平衡,居民通勤多以本组团内部的通勤行为为主,没有出现大规模的跨区通勤,各组团居民的通勤行为具有“近多远少”特点。各组团职住空间特征存在明显的差异,城关区和安宁区的平均通勤距离较短,七里河和西固区的平均通勤距离较长。职住空间组织特征与城市中居住功能和就业功能的空间差异有关。城关区属于单向外来通勤流为主的区域、七里河区属于双向通勤流比较平衡的区域、安宁区和西固区属于单向外出通勤流为主的区域。     

‘Census Towns’ in India and what it means to be ‘urban’: Competing epistemologies and potential new approaches

The classification of 2 532 new settlements in the Census of India 2011 as ‘urban’, and specifically as ‘Census Towns’, has brought small and emerging urban centres back into the purview of urban studies and urban development in India. Taking this to be a point of entry, this article seeks to explore how the urban has been framed and approached from different and competing epistemological standpoints in the Indian context. First, it attempts to outline the different epistemologies of the urban in India, which may be seen as competing traditions because of the unequal stakes they have claimed so far in public and policy discourse. Then, it presents two brief case studies of Census Towns from the state of West Bengal to put forth new questions in this regard. The case studies illustrate significant gaps and discrepancies between the lived experience of the urban and its representation in dominant epistemological frameworks such as the official census. I argue that the historical development of various settlement systems, which constitutes the core narrative of urbanization in India, cannot be understood in all its complexity through mere census extracts or aerial images, but requires engagement with rich, embedded epistemologies that have taken shape within these settlements.     

Understanding Place as ‘Home’ and ‘Away’ through Practices of Bird-watching

Bird-watching is an increasingly popular leisure activity. Previous research has taken for granted the identity of people who watch birds, often categorised by their level of skilled practice as ‘dude’, ‘birder’ or ‘twitcher’. Feminist geographers encourage us to explore identity work as an outcome of the reciprocal relationships between practices and place. Our feminist approach illustrates that the practices of bird-watching are always much more than categorising birds as species. This paper illustrates how the practices of bird-watching are integral to the making and remaking of sense of place as ‘home’ and ‘away’, to sustain identities beyond accepted categories of ‘dude’, ‘birder’ and ‘twitcher’. The creation and application of different types of ‘bird-lists’ helps to explain the ways in which practices of bird-watching facilitate making sense of place as simultaneously ‘home’, ‘away’ and habitat, as well as the identity work of home-maker, citizen-scientist and tourist. Our insights into these leisure practices of bird-watching are drawn from analysis of data gathered from 21 people who actively bird-watch and reside on the South Coast, New South Wales, Australia by combining research methods of talking, walking, drawing and photography.     

A Critical Note on ‘Eco‐Civic Regionalisation’ as the Basis for Local Government Boundaries in Australia

The notion of ‘eco‐civic regionalisation’ has been applied recently to New South Wales by Brunckhorst, Coop and Reeve (2004 Brunckhorst D Coop P Reeve I 2004 An eco‐civic regionalisation for rural New South Wales: final report to the NSW government Institute for Rural Futures and Centre for Bioregional Resource Management, University of New England, Armidale  [Google Scholar]) in order to identify the appropriate administrative boundaries for ‘socio‐civic’ regions and ‘biophysical’ regions. On the basis of this analysis, they recommended inter alia that 49 future non‐metropolitan ‘local government areas’ be established. This proposal was adopted with alacrity by advocates of the NSW government's program of compulsory council amalgamation, including official ‘Facilitators’ appointed by the State government to draft formal consolidation proposals. This paper disputes the applicability of ‘eco‐civic regionalisation’ as the foundation for local government boundaries in Australia.     

Predicting sediment inputs to aquatic ecosystems across England and Wales under current environmental conditions

The awareness of water quality issues has never been higher. As part of its continuing strategic diffuse pollution policy support, ADAS recently undertook to identify catchments across England and Wales that could potentially fail recently proposed suspended sediment yield targets under current environmental conditions. The total suspended sediment loads (SSL) delivered to all rivers were assumed to comprise contributions from diffuse sources in the agricultural and urban sectors, as well as from eroding channel banks and point sources represented by sewage treatment works (STWs). Diffuse agricultural sediment loss to rivers was predicted using the PSYCHIC model. Corresponding inputs from diffuse urban sources were estimated on the basis of an Event Mean Concentration (EMC) methodology. Channel bank sediment inputs were calculated using a prototype national scale model, while point source sediment contributions were based on a register of consented effluent discharges. Modelled SSL were validated (r²=68%) against PARCOM data (1999–2003) for the delivery of sediment to different regions of the UK maritime area. The results of the validation were considered to be realistic for a national scale predictor. The modelling exercise suggested that those catchments currently at risk of exceeding proposed suspended sediment yield critical thresholds are largely confined to upland areas across Wales and northwest England and the chalklands of southern and eastern England.     

南京市住房困难人群职住关系及影响因素分析

居住和就业的空间关系,既是城市居民日常生活的空间反映,也是评判城市空间合理性的重要准则。新就业大学生(取得专科及以上学历且工作未满3 a,在南京无自有住房且租房居住)、外来务工人员(收入低于2016年南京市人均可支配收入4166元/月,在南京无自有住房且租房居住)和中低收入人群(南京户籍,家庭人均可支配收入低于3074元/月,人均住房面积不大于20 m ²)等住房困难人群,普遍面临住房机会不平等的问题,职住关系也呈现出特殊性。论文基于南京市这3类住房困难人群的873份问卷数据,采用两步聚类法对通勤流向模式进行划分,基于多项Logistic回归模型探究通勤时间和通勤方式的影响因素,并以南京鼓楼区为案例解析住房困难人群的职住关系。结果表明：新就业大学生通勤流向主要为内部通勤,通勤时间最短,职住关系受通勤流向和工作单位影响;外来务工人员通勤流向主要为侧向通勤,通勤方式机动化程度最低,职住关系受通勤流向、工作单位和性别显著影响;中低收入人群通勤流向主要为侧向通勤,职住分离程度最高,职住关系主要受到住房类型的显著影响。以鼓楼区为例,论文进一步发现新就业大学生以交通条件为导向、外来务工人员以工作地为导向和中低收入人群以居住地为导向的职住关系。     

发达国家通勤影响个人健康的研究综述与展望

随着社会经济的不断发展,健康问题已经越来越受到大家的关注。通勤作为居民每日的重要出行活动,是时间利用中的重要组成部分。近些年,城市交通状况开始不断恶化,糟糕的通勤形势逐渐对个人的健康状况构成威胁。发达国家较早开始了对于该问题的关注,已取得丰富的研究成果。相较之下,国内关于通勤影响个人健康的文献则相对缺乏。本文主要从个人心理健康、客观健康、健康行为三个维度,对西方发达国家通勤时间、通勤距离、通勤方式等通勤行对个人健康影响的相关文献进行了系统梳理与评述,并对未来研究进行展望,以期能够为我国城市通勤领域的研究提供新的视角与借鉴。