Exploring urban commuting imbalance by jobs and gender

Previous findings support that distance matters for job access. Typically, long distances act negatively on job access either due to the lack of information about the opportunities or the cost (time, transportation, etc.). Disparities in job access are explained with the workers’ demographic and socioeconomic characteristics and their spatial condition. Nevertheless, job access was not fully explored in multi-dimensional ways because of data and computational limitations. Recently, the wealth of commuting data, combined with the growing capacity of computation and methodological development, enables us to examine more commuting pattern details than what existing data provide at an aggregate level. This study uses a disaggregate journey-to-work model on 2000 Census Transportation Planning Package (CTPP) commuting data to investigate access to job by gender and occupation, in a more localized context. To explore this varying degree of job access and associated explanation, we analyzed disaggregate commuting flows and ran a regression model on them. This study has three main objectives: (1) to disaggregate journey-to-work flows by gender and occupation to estimate the number of commute trips between census tracts, (2) to explore the variations in job access by gender and occupation, and (3) to draw relationships between job access and various worker’s situations. The results show the details of commuting patterns, suggesting that some occupations have more gender imbalance than others. Further, the findings indicate that the same demographic, socioeconomic and spatial conditions have different effects on workers, and the effect is related to the workers’ demographic-socioeconomic status in complex ways. Unlike conventional research in which a particular worker group is compared to a control group of opposite characteristics, our methodology makes it possible to examine an overview of all the job and gender groups, providing advantages in 2-way comparisons between gender and occupation groups beyond a conventional comparison between two groups. Therefore, our study adds an additional dimension to the conventional comparison.     

Understanding the mobility patterns of Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) passengers amid COVID-19 in Singapore using smart card data

The Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) is one of the major modes of public transportation in Singapore. Understanding the mobility patterns of MRT passengers has implications for improving transportation efficiency. As a city-state with a high population density, Singapore provides a representation of balanced urban dynamics that informs smart urban planning. In this paper, we investigated and visualized (using both static maps and dynamic web map applications) the spatiotemporal characteristics of Singapore's MRT commuting patterns before the COVID-19 pandemic (January 2020) and during the first outbreak (May 2020) and the Omicron wave of the pandemic (February 2022), using MRT smart card data. We also investigated the relationship between the passenger flows of individual MRT stations and the nearby land use types. Our results showed that the spatial patterns of Singapore's MRT commuters match the polycentric urban structure. In addition to central areas, several regional centres were identified as passenger hotspots in multiple time periods. Furthermore, during the outbreak of the pandemic, especially in the period of the ‘circuit breaker’, there was a major decline in MRT passenger flows and a decrease in average MRT commuting distances during weekend/holiday peak hours. Lastly, correlations between passenger flows of MRT stations and the proportion of nearby land use types have been identified.     

PATTERNS OF SPATIAL DISPERSION IN METROPOLITAN COMMUTING

The simultaneous impact of residential and employment decentralization in the form of multinucleations on patterns of commuting concentration and dispersion is examined for the Washington metropolitan area with 1980 data. Because of the area's generally white-collar labor force, the impact of segregated occupational groups is minimized and it is possible to examine strictly the spatial dimensions of commuting dispersion. Commuting becomes increasingly more dispersed from the center of the area to about 12 miles outward. Beyond that point, the patterns of commuting become considerably more complex, responding to a wide range of sizes of employment in a widely dispersed pattern of nucleations. In some sectors, commuting dispersion remains somewhat constant. In one sector, commuting patterns revert to some level of concentration, possibly responding to a somewhat unique situation of employment concentration along a corridor. These findings contribute to the recognition that tomorrow's transit structure cannot rely on its traditional form, but must become more selective.     

MENTAL MAPS AND RESIDENTIAL DESIRABILITY. A SINGAPORE STUDY

This paper examines the perceptual images and residential desirability of public and private housing residents in Clementi housing estate in Singapore. Residents’ mental maps are established in terms of their levels of knowledgeability of activity nodes tied to various aspects of their lives, namely, workplaces, recreational and sports centres, shops and residential areas. The way the mental maps shape residents’ perceptions of what are desirable and non-desirable places to live in are also discussed. The paper highlights the significance of socio-economic differences, length of residence, physical proximity, levels of interaction and cultural leanings in influencing the mental maps and residential preferences of urban residents in Singapore     

Effects of Married-Couple Dual-Earner Households on Metropolitan Commuting: Evidence from the Atlanta Metropolitan Area

The idea of creating a balance between jobs and housing within different commuter catchment areas of a metropolis has been a prominent approach for reducing traffic congestion, air pollution, and journey-to-work times. Married-couple, dual-earner households, in which both spouses are employed, have been identified as an obstacle to the job-housing balance concept because of their constrained ability to choose a residential location near both workplaces. However, this has not yet been conclusively tested. Drawing on the 2000 5% PUMS dataset for metropolitan Atlanta, this article examines the commuting behavior of such households relative to single-earner households. The results challenge the dominant assumption that the average commutes of married-couple, dual-earner households are necessarily longer than those of single-earner households. In fact, after controlling for all forms of socioeconomic factors in the analysis, this study shows there are either no significant differences, or if there are, the average commutes of single-earner households are longer. It is a lack of affordable housing near job locations, or vice versa, and not the presence of dual-earner households, that should be blamed for lengthening commuting time and difficulties in implementing job-housing balances.     

MAKING SUSTAINABLE CREATIVE/CULTURAL SPACE IN SHANGHAI AND SINGAPORE*

ABSTRACT. Shanghai and Singapore are two economically vibrant Asian cities that have recently adopted creative/cultural economy strategies. In this article I examine new spatial expressions of cultural and economic interests in the two cities: state‐vaunted cultural edifices and organically evolved cultural spaces. I discuss the simultaneous precariousness and sustainability of these spaces, focusing on Shanghai's Grand Theatre and Moganshan Lu and on Singapore's Esplanade—Theatres by the Bay and Wessex Estate. Their cultural sustainability is understood as their ability to support the development of indigenous content and local idioms in artistic work. Their social sustainability is examined in terms of the social inclusion and community bonds they engender; environmental sustainability refers to the articulation with the language of existing urban forms and the preservation of or improvements to the landscape. Although both Shanghai and Singapore demonstrate simultaneous precariousness and sustainability, Singapore's city‐state status places greater pressure on it to ensure sustainability than does Shanghai, within a much larger China in which Beijing serves as the cultural hearth while Shanghai remains essentially a commercial center.     

RACIAL DIFFERENCES IN THE COMMUTING BEHAVIOR OF WOMEN IN BUFFALO, 1980-1990

Disagreement persists about whether or not African American workers in U.S. metropolitan areas are more distant from centers of employment opportunities than European American workers are. But few studies on employment accessibility focus on racial differences among women. Analyses of 1980 and 1990 census Public Use Microdata Samples for Erie County (Buffalo), New York show that, by 1990, African American and European American women who use private vehicles generally spend about the same time commuting. However in both years, work trips to destinations outside the central city penalize African American women relative to European American women. If employment opportunities, especially service jobs, continue to expand in suburban locations and not in central-city locations, the African American women who have to reverse commute (even when they use a car) are unlikely to enjoy the relative convenience of short commutes that characterize the journey-to-work behavior of European American women with suburban employment.     

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.]     

Journey‐to‐Work Patterns in the Age of Sprawl: Evidence from Two Midsize Southern Metropolitan Areas*

Among others, one commonly identified negative consequence of urban sprawl is an increase in the length of the journey to work. However, there has been more discussion of this than serious scrutiny, hence the relationship between urban sprawl and commuting patterns, especially at the intraurban level, remains unclear. Using the 2000 Census Transportation Planning Package (CTPP) data for two Southeastern metropolitan areas, this research investigates the extent to which workers living in sprawl areas commute farther to work than those living in higher density areas. The analysis of variance confirms that workers commuting from sprawl areas to urban areas experience a longer commute in terms of time as well as mileage, though this varies when workplace and home locations are taken into account. However, multivariate statistical results suggest that there are limits to the utility of sprawl as a predictor of travel behavior compared to workers' socioeconomic characteristics, as other factors appear to be equally or more important.     

Job Proximity and Accessibility for Workers of Various Wage Groups

This research proposes two indexes, job proximity and accessibility, to measure workers' location advantage by residences with respect to their job markets. Job proximity is designed to capture the spatial separation between residents and jobs. Job accessibility measures one's ability to overcome such separation as may be affected by transportation means, road network, congestion, and intensity of competition for jobs among workers. The research compares the two measures among workers of various wage levels in an attempt to reveal who has the greatest advantage in job access and whether job access is a spatial or nonspatial issue. In Cleveland in 1990, the mean wage rate of 30,000 was a critical turning point: below this level, the higher the mean wage rate in a residential area, the farther the area was away from jobs; above this level, the trend is reversed. In other words, below a wage threshold, workers tend to trade better and more spacious housing (usually farther away from jobs) for more commuting; but above the threshold, workers retreat for saving in commuting (pertaining to their high opportunity cost of commuting). Although low-wage workers enjoy better job proximity, many of them (particularly some inner-city residents) have the worst job accessibility because of their limited transport mobility as indicated by a low level of automobile ownership. Job proximity declines with distance from the CBD and conforms to the monocentric model, as does job accessibility but to a less degree. Since workers with various wages respond differently to job access, the distribution of mean wage rates in the metropolitan area is hardly monocentric.     

大城市郊区居民通勤模式对健康的影响研究——以北京天通苑为例

中国大城市的郊区化加剧了居民的职住分离与长距离通勤,进而影响其健康状况。本文以北京典型近郊巨型居住区天通苑为案例,研究城市郊区居民通勤模式对健康的影响。天通苑全职就业者通勤空间总体上呈现以天通苑为中心不均匀的放射状格局;根据通勤距离、时间与方式,将天通苑全职就业者的通勤模式划分为短距离-积极-公交通勤、中长距离-公交-小汽车通勤、超长距离-公交-小汽车通勤3种模式。本文借助二项Logistic回归模型,在控制其他社会经济属性的前提下验证不同通勤模式对生理健康和心理健康2个维度6个指标的影响。研究发现,整体上通勤模式对睡眠质量差、经常请病假、疲惫不堪、压力大等健康风险的影响均呈现出倒“U”形的趋势,表明适度通勤可能有利于健康,而过长通勤却不利于健康,尤其是超长距离-公交-小汽车通勤模式显著地增加了睡眠质量差、经常请病假、压力大等的健康风险。最后,本文指出改善大城市郊区职住关系不仅意味着城市运行效率的提升,更意味着居民健康状况及生活质量的提升。     

THE IMPACT OF FAMILY STATUS ON BLACK,WHITE, AND HISPANIC WOMEN'S COMMUTING

The relationship between women's domestic labor and employment in the paid labor force is central to current debates about gender inequities in occupations and incomes. Recent studies of gender differences in commuting argue that women reduce the journey to work to accommodate the demands of family responsibilities. The empirical evidence, however, is mixed. Equal numbers of studies have reported significant andinsignificant relationships between average commuting times and various measures of domestic responsibilities. Few of these studies have examined the implications of parenthood and, particularly, single parenthood, for the commuting patterns of women from various racial and ethnic backgrounds. Women who are single parents may work closer to home than other women because of their substantial domestic responsibilities. On the other hand, as sole wage earners, single parents may travel long times to obtain better paid employment. Using information about a sample of women in the New York Consolidated Metropolitan Area, we compared the average commuting times of black, Hispanic, and white women from single and two-parent households. The presence and ages of children significantly reduced all women's commuting times, although the effects of parenthood were muted for minority women. Single mothers commuted longer than married mothers, but the size of the disparity depended upon a woman's racial/ethnic background and place of residence. All single mothers commuted shorter times in the suburbs than at the center, but the differences were greatest for minority women living in the suburbs.     

On The Waterfront: Globalization and Urbanization in Singapore

Although many cities aspire to "global-city status," few have been as explicit as Singapore in its quest to create urban landscapes to project its global aspirations. This paper presents the case of the Singapore River development zone as a "hyper-symbol" of Singapore's global urbanism. By creating a world-class riverfront not unlike the acclaimed waterfronts of London, Sydney, or San Francisco, Singapore's urban planners hope to project the city as a venue worthy of world-class tourism and leisure activities, an important node in international circuits of capital, and a vibrant city for both foreign visitors and local residents. Our paper, however, also argues that local forces and influences play a significant role in the waterfront's development. The Singapore River landscape is the negotiated outcome of both globalism and localism—a dialectical landscape formed by dominant global influences on the one hand, and emerging local processes on the other. Fieldwork comprising a questionnaire survey, in-depth interviews, and on-site observations provide evidence of such global-local interactions. The paper contends that the challenges at the river are symptomatic of the broader Singapore experience as the city-state grapples with issues of national identity, local empowerment, and community rights in the midst of a global convergence of tourists, capital, people, and cultures.     

近10年来海南航空网络空间格局及演化研究

以海航航空为研究对象,从企业尺度探讨其近10 a来的重组、收购和扩张对其航空网络空间结构及航空枢纽变迁的影响。研究发现：海南航空网络整体明显向北扩张,平均航距呈下降趋势;航班集中在少数通航城市和航线,但集聚趋势有所下降;并在中国全国和部分区域已基本形成了“轴-辐”模式为主、“点-点”模式为辅的空间结构,航空枢纽由海口、北京和西安转变为西安、北京和海口;首位联系度下降明显,进一步表明网络由集聚向均衡化发展。     

基于结构方程模型的南京市就业者通勤行为特征对健康的影响研究

通勤是城市就业者日常工作所必须面对的问题,长距离、长时间通勤以及机动化通勤方式带来的健康问题引起了国内外学者们的广泛关注。论文基于南京市居民身体活动及健康状况问卷调查数据,构建结构方程模型分析就业者通勤距离、通勤时间及通勤模式三者的关系及其对心理健康、身体健康以及健康行为的影响。研究发现：① 通勤距离对机动车通勤模式与通勤时间存在显著的正向直接效应,同时通勤距离对通勤时间存在显著的正向间接效应。② 在心理健康影响方面,通勤距离、通勤时间及机动车通勤模式对邻里关系有显著的负向直接效应,同时通勤距离与通勤模式对邻里关系还存在显著的负向间接效应;在身体健康影响方面,通勤距离降低了就业者超重或肥胖的发生概率,但增加了就业者选择机动车通勤模式的可能性,从而间接增加了就业者患慢性疾病的风险;在健康行为影响方面,通勤距离、通勤时间与睡眠时间显著负相关,机动车通勤模式对睡眠时间产生负向间接影响,与是否做家务显著负相关,与是否散步呈现显著的正相关。③ 通勤行为特征对健康的影响因就业者社会经济属性不同而存在差异,女性、年龄较大以及收入较低的就业者通勤行为特征对健康的影响更为显著。基于研究结果,提出优化城市职住空间、减少通勤时耗,降低小汽车依赖、促进积极通勤来提高就业者身体活动量,并为特殊群体的通勤创造更加有利的条件,进而提升其健康水平。     

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。     

Spatial Mismatch and Employment in a Decade of Restructuring∗

Spatial barriers to employment limit women's job opportunities, but their effects differ among racial/ethnic minority groups. This study evaluates the degree of spatial mismatch for minority women and men by comparing the commuting times of African American, Latino, and white workers in the New York metropolitan region. Using Public Use Microdata for 1980 and 1990, we perform a partial decomposition analysis to assess the role of spatial mismatch in lengthening commuting times for minority workers. The results show that African American men and women living in the center of the region have poorer spatial access to employment than their white counterparts. In the suburbs, African American women and Latinas suffer no spatial mismatch; rather, their longer commuting times reflect greater reliance on mass transit. Comparison with 1980 findings reveals little change in spatial mismatch over time despite significant economic and social restructuring in the 1980s. Spatial barriers still limit employment prospects for the majority of minority women living at the core of the region.     

Equity Issues in the 'New Prosperity' of the 1990s: The case of Sydney

Equity issues associated with Sydney's engagement with prosperity, especially over the last decade, are examined. Sydney is positioned within the historic contexts of major national economic change and of globalisation, noting especially the rise in importance of the financial, property and business services sectors. These sectors are concentred in inner Sydney and have helped position Sydney as Australia's leading global city, thereby generating jobs and growth in incomes. At the same time, however, there have been major shifts in patterns of income distribution across the Sydney metropolitan area and between Sydney and other parts of Australia. In particular, we note the 'revitalisation' of Sydney's inner-urban areas and their association with new forms of Central Business District (CBD) workforce growth and a significant realignment of journey-to-work patterns. Using Australian Taxation Office income data, the dynamics and some of the equity outcomes of 1990s prosperity within the Sydney metropolitan area are examined, paying particular attention to the impact of change in and around the Sydney CBD and the City of Sydney local government area. We find that there has been a complex shift in the nature of inequality across the Sydney metropolitan area, including a widening in incomes in some instances and a major geographic shift in Sydney's income-divide axis. The paper concludes by arguing that ongoing economic prosperity in Sydney will depend on the extent to which social cleavage can be avoided by a more equitable sharing of the benefits of prosperity.     

WORK-PLACE UTILITIES AND COMMUTING PATTERNS: ARE THEY CLASS OR PLACE DIFFERENTIATED?*

The work-place utilities and commuting patterns of the employed in Haifa's (Israel) metropolitan field are analyzed using the value-stretch methodology. Statistical test scores reveal class and place (location) variations in the perceived utilities of employed, especially in their commuting patterns (flows). A meaningful commuting pattern analysis should incorporate socioeconomic and demographic elements along with the spatial distribution of job opportunities. Some analytical and policy implications of employment strategies for a postindustrial metropolis are evaluated.