Understanding active transportation accessibility's impacts on polycentric and monocentric cities' housing price

Abstract

Active transportation (AT) accessibility, specifically walking and cycling accessibility, has a significant impact on housing prices and equity. However, the spatial variation of the impacts of both walking and cycling accessibility and the influence of urban structure on housing submarkets are often overlooked in existing studies. This research aims to fill this gap by investigating the impacts of eight types of AT accessibility, inherent and locational attributes on housing prices in polycentric and monocentric cities. Geographically weighted regression models were estimated using housing price data from 3496 communities in Shanghai (a monocentric city) and 1100 communities in Wuhan (a polycentric city), China. The results illustrate the spatially varying impacts of AT accessibility on housing prices and highlight the existence of housing submarkets within cities due to varying factors such as urban structure, job-housing imbalance, consumer demand, public and private investment, and residential self-selection process. These findings provide valuable insights for investing in residential properties and designing policies and projects to improve AT accessibility in a way that promotes equity.