Job Housing Research Articles

Mortality due to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome and associated social factors: a spatial analysis.

To analyze the spatial pattern of AIDS mortality and social factors associated with its occurrence. An ecological study that considered 955 AIDS deaths of residents in Piauí, reported in the Mortality Information System (MIS) from 2007 to 2015. Non-spatial and spatial regression models were used to identify social determinants of AIDS mortality, with a significance of 5%. The predictors of AIDS mortality were illiteracy rate in males (p = 0.020), proportion of households with water supply (p = 0.015), percentage of people in households with inadequate walls (p = 0.022), percentage of people in households vulnerable to poverty and in whom no one has completed primary education (p = 0.000) and percentage of people in households vulnerable to poverty and dependent on the elderly (p = 0.009). Social indicators related to education, job and income generation and housing were associated with AIDS mortality.

Categorizing Urban Form for the Largest Metro Regions in the U.S. Using the Excessive Commuting Framework

The degree to which U.S. cities, metro regions, and general urbanized areas have distinct centres of economic activity has been a matter of debate for many decades. In the jobs–housing literature, there is related debate about whether having many distinct mixed-use centres in cities leads to longer or shorter commutes. The excess commuting framework has been increasingly refined and applied to assess urban areas' jobs–housing balance. The framework has expanded over the years but an issue in the present research is whether its various theoretical measurements and efficiency calculations might be used to assess the degree of poly- or mono-centricity of a region, thereby contributing to debates about what kind of urban form facilitates shorter commutes. In this paper, a suite of excess commuting (EC) measures are calculated for fifty-three of the largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) in the U.S. From there a hierarchical clustering approach is developed and applied to demonstrate which of these metrics are most useful in describing urban form. We examine how these metrics perform for particular built environments, which gives further insights into commuting and land use trends. Results of the research show how various urban forms have specific commuting outcomes: specifically, that polycentric urban forms have shorter average commute distances than sprawling ones. This should inform policy questions about the most effective land-use planning strategies to pursue in efforts to manage travel demand via built environment interventions.

Job Accessibility from a Multiple Commuting Circles Perspective Using Baidu Location Data: A Case Study of Wuhan, China

Jobs–housing imbalance is a hot topic in urban study and has obtained many results. However, little research has overcome the limits of administrative boundaries in job accessibility measurement and considered differences in job accessibility within multiple commuting circles. Using Baidu location data, this research proposes a new method to measure job accessibility within multiple commuting circles at the grids’ level. Taking the Wuhan metropolitan area as a case study, the results are as follows: (1) Housing and service jobs are concentrated in the central urban areas along the Yangtze River, whereas industrial jobs are scattered throughout suburbs with double centers. The potential competition for job opportunities is fiercer in the city center than in the suburbs. (2) Job accessibility with different levels shows significant circle-like distribution. People with long- or short-distance potential commutes demand to live close to the groups with the same demand. Residents with long-distance commutes demand to live outside of where those with short-distance commutes demand to reside, regardless of whether their commuting demand is for service or industrial jobs. (3) There are three optimization patterns for transit services to increase job accessibility in various areas. These patterns involve areas with inadequate job opportunities, poor transit services to service jobs, and poor transit services to industrial jobs. Developing current transit facilities or new transit alternatives as well as adding extra jobs near housing could improve jobs–housing imbalance in these areas. Findings from this study could guide the allocation of jobs and housing as well as the development of transport to reduce residents’ commuting burdens and promote transportation equity. The method used in this study can be applied to evaluate jobs–housing imbalance from the perspective of the supply in other metropolises.

Impacts of a multi-scale built environment and its corresponding moderating effects on commute duration in China

Many studies have found that the built environment affects commute duration. However, they have paid little attention to the moderating effects of the surrounding built environment, and few have focused on the built environment at different levels simultaneously. Based on a sample of 3453 individuals across China in 2014, our study examined the impacts of the built environment at both the neighbourhood and city levels on commute duration as well as the moderating effects of the city-level built environment on the neighbourhood-level built environment using a multilevel linear regression model. The results show that built environment elements at both levels affect commute duration: city population size, population density at both levels, and the quadratic term for population density at the city level are positively associated with commute duration, while jobs–housing balance and short distance to business centres and transit stations are negatively related. City population size can strengthen the time-shortening effects of the jobs–housing balance and of proximity to transit stations on commute duration. City population density decreases the time-shortening effect of business centre proximity. This study has important implications for future research and policies regarding reducing traffic congestion and commute duration in Chinese cities.

Urban Spatial Structure and Travel in China

This article first provides a critical scoping review of empirical literature on the relationship between urban structure and travel in China. The review finds that residential suburbanization alone increases travel, polycentric development has mixed effects, and jobs–housing balance reduces travel. Second, this article compares the empirical findings of the urban structure–travel relationships in China with those observed in other countries, and it identifies contextual factors that can explain the differing relationships in China. We suggest that future research improve data and methodology and broaden the research scope to investigate the complex mechanisms that affect the urban structure–travel relationship in China.

Towards Sustainable Urban Spatial Structure: Does Decentralization Reduce Commuting Times?

This paper contributes to the existing debate on the co-location hypothesis, by devising a proximity measure and controlling for a set of other urban form measures. Utilizing the LEHD (Longitudinal Employer–Household Dynamics) Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES) data that provide the number of jobs by a finer geography, this paper measured the degree of centralization, proximity, and job–housing mismatch. Multiple regression analysis revealed that the job–worker proximity leads to a shorter commuting time. In addition, the results focusing on suburban areas revealed that the impact of the job–worker imbalance and the impact of job–worker mismatch on the commuting time are greater in the suburb in comparison with the city center.

Solving Traffic Congestion through Street Renaissance: A Perspective from Dense Asian Cities

Traffic congestion is one of the most vexing city problems and involves numerous factors which cannot be addressed without a holistic approach. Congestion cannot be narrowly tackled at the cost of a city’s quality of life. Focusing on transport and land use planning, this paper examines transport policies and practices on both the supply and demand sides and finds that indirect travel demand management might be the most desirable solution to this chronic traffic ailment. The concept of absorption of traffic demand through the renaissance of streets as a way for traffic relief is introduced from two perspectives, with some examples from dense Asian urban contexts to demonstrate this. Firstly, jobs–housing balance suggests the return of production activities to residential areas and sufficient provision of diverse space/housing options to deal with work-related traffic. The second approach is to promote the street as a multi-activity destination rather than a thoroughfare to access dispersed daily needs, and to advocate more street life to diminish non-commuting traffic. Based on this, suggestions for better transport planning policies are put forward.

Role of Spatial Configuration in Commuting Trade-Offs of Two-Worker Households: A Case Study in the Greater Toronto Area

This research investigates the commuting trade-offs between individuals in two-worker households with home and work locations in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). A commuting trade-off occurs when a home relocation results in one worker incurring a higher commute distance for the other worker to work closer to the home location. This research uses stated preference data and multilevel modeling to demonstrate that two-worker households adjust their home–work spatial configuration which results in commuting trade-offs between individuals. This research uses the angle between the two workplaces, measured at the home location, as a variable in its empirical model. This variable is a descriptor of the home–work spatial configuration and a predictor of total household commute distance. The modeling results indicate an inverse relationship between total household commute distance and the difference between individual commutes. This suggests that individuals in two-worker households trade off their individual commute distances and, in that process, reduce total household commute distance. A key policy implication arising from this research relates to the jobs–housing balance within a catchment area. Two-worker households have been regarded as a hindrance to achieving jobs–housing balance as the two work locations present a constraint in relocating the home near both work locations. However, as this research shows, workers will trade off their individual commute distances such that a home relocation results in a shorter commute distance for one worker and longer commute distance for the other.

Revisiting the Relationship between Urban Form and Excess Commuting in US Metropolitan Areas

This article revisits the relationship between urban form and excess commuting by analyzing 206 metropolitan statistical areas in the United States. Using the most recent Census Transportation Planning Products, we revalidated the importance of using multidimensional indices when examining excess commuting across metropolitan areas. We found that higher levels of polycentricity aggravate cross-commuting, while higher central city dominance improves excess commuting. In addition, our results indicate the significant impact of sprawl or jobs–housing dispersal on excess commuting. These findings shed light on the multidimensional relationship between urban form and excess commuting.

Spatial variation of self-containment and jobs-housing balance in Shenzhen using cellphone big data

Self-containment of employment and jobs-housing balance have been used to examine commuting patterns from different perspectives. Appropriate jobs-housing ratio may achieve high self-containment. However, self-containment may be affected by other factors. In this study, the spatial variation of self-containment of employment and jobs–housing balance is examined with job types, location, and housing prices using the cellphone data in Shenzhen, China. Jobs–housing balance is found to be more important in self-containment of employment for secondary-sector workers compared with that for tertiary-sector workers. Secondary-sector workers tend to reside near their workplaces because of relatively balanced jobs and housing, whereas tertiary-sector workers tend to reside farther away from their workplaces to save housing cost. The study enhances our understanding of self-containment of employment and jobs-housing balance which is primarily based on Western cities.

Does Placing Affordable Housing Near Rail Raise Development Costs? Evidence From California’s Four Largest Metropolitan Planning Organizations

California spent over a billion dollars supporting the construction of subsidized affordable housing in rail-adjacent neighborhoods through its transit-oriented development program. We test whether placing affordable housing close to rail or in jobs-rich communities increases development costs on a per-unit basis. We constructed budget and land-use data for nearly 500 tax credit-financed affordable housing sites which applied for tax credits in the state between 2008 and 2016. Through hedonic cost modeling and spatially lagged regression, we fail to find a significant effect of proximity to rail on development costs. Only by interacting proximity to transit with a project being higher than four stories do our models yield a significant effect of 8% higher total development costs. But in these models, a negative 16% interaction term suggests this cost impact is completely absorbed by developers by building above four stories. Beyond this, we find that only jobs–housing balance correlates significantly with per-unit development costs: as the number of jobs relative to housing within a five-mile radius of a site increases by 1, per-unit development costs increases by a mere 5%, on average.

The ameliorated trade-off between commuting efficiency and jobs-housing balance in a green-belted city: Lessons from Seoul

Co-locating jobs and housing is natural to cost-saving individuals but is potentially congestive at a local level. As for quasi-rational locators, whose rationality is limited in finding the best location especially in the short run, their houses and jobs tend to agglomerate, yielding congestion especially in growing localities. In the long run, when more information and time to adapt to such an externality become available, however, jobs-housing (J-H) balance may be improved after short-run imbalance. Graphically, the J-H balance to be expressible in the J-H ratio (X) and commuting efficiency (Y) tend to be linearly traded off at a regional level in the long run, but this trade-off can be U-shaped at a local level especially in the short run. This study discusses long-run stabilisation after short-run dynamic adaptation (periods) to such a U-shaped ‘trade-off’ in and outside the greenbelt of Seoul. Its spatial transitions between 2000, 2005, and 2010 were analysed regarding the quasi-rational commuters' local amelioration of the trade-off. It is shown that commuting time decreased and J-H balance overall improved in the long run. This trend is more apparent in the new towns built between 1989 and 1995 than the nine new towns built after the mid 2000s. Mean commuting time decreased sharply in such most job-rich or formerly housing-rich areas as ones with J-H ratios >2.08 or <1.18. This suggests a quasi-rational-commuter-led transition to improved balance in the long run, despite the greenbelt's commuting-delaying effect. Considering this J-H range, this transition needs to be managed more scientifically, minimising the greenbelt's negative effect with any positive effect untainted.

A commuting spectrum analysis of the jobs–housing balance and self-containment of employment with mobile phone location big data

Studies on the jobs–housing balance and self-containment of employment are mainly focused on observed journey-to-work trips using travel survey data. This study examines the relationship between the jobs–housing balance and the self-containment of employment through the use of mobile phone location data in Shenzhen, a megacity in southern China. Individual-level journey-to-work trips are explored based on mobile phone location big data. Self-containment of employment in the suburban districts is higher than that in the central districts. The effect of the jobs–housing balance on self-containment of employment is examined at a 2 km grid level. Jobs–housing balance policies positively affect the self-containment of employment in the suburban districts, but its effect is limited in the central districts. Two extreme commuting spectrum measures are used to analyze self-containment of employment in different journey-to-work scenarios with the same jobs–housing distribution. Workers are disaggregated into secondary and tertiary sector workers according to job types. The self-containment of employment is found to be mainly affected by the local jobs–housing balance for secondary-sector workers and the regional city level job distribution for tertiary-sector workers. The extreme scenarios of commuting behavior using the commuting spectrum method can provide benchmarks that can help to understand the observed self-containment of employment better.

Assessment of transport performance index for urban transport development strategies — Incorporating residents' preferences

The performance of urban transport depends on a variety of factors related to metropolitan structure; in particular, the patterns of commuting, roads and public transport (PT) systems. To evaluate urban transport planning efforts, there is a need for a metric expressing the aggregate performance of the city's transport systems which should relate to residents' preferences. The existing metrics have typically focused on a measure to express the proximity of job locations to residences. A Transport Performance Index (TPI) is proposed in which the total cost of transportation system (operational and environmental costs) is divided by willingness to pay (WTP) for transport plus the willingness to accept (WTA) the environmental effects on residents. Transport operational as well as the environmental costs are derived from a simulation of all transport systems, to particular designs of spatial development. Willingness to pay for transport and willingness to accept the environmental effects are derived from surveys among residents. Simulations were modelled of Surabaya's spatial structure and public transport expansion. The results indicate that the current TPI is high, which will double by 2030. With a hypothetical polycentric city structure and adjusted job housing balance, a lower index occurs because of the improvements in urban transport performance. A low index means that the residents obtain much benefit from the alternative proposed. This illustrates the importance of residents' preferences in urban spatial planning in order to achieve efficient urban transport. Applying the index suggests that city authorities should provide fair and equitable public transport systems for suburban residents in the effort to control the phenomenon of urban sprawl. This index is certainly a good tool and prospective benchmark for measuring sustainability in relation to urban development.

Understanding commuting patterns using transit smart card data

Commuting reflects the long-term travel behavior of people and significantly impacts urban traffic congestion and emission. Recent advances in data availability provide new opportunities to understand commuting patterns efficiently and effectively. This study develops a series of data mining methods to identify the spatiotemporal commuting patterns of Beijing public transit riders. Using one-month transit smart card data, we measure spatiotemporal regularity of individual commuters, including residence, workplace, and departure time. This data could be used to identify transit commuters by leveraging spatial clustering and multi-criteria decision analysis approaches. A disaggregated-level survey is performed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods with a commuter identification accuracy that reaches as high as 94.1%. By visualizing the spatial distribution of the homes and workplaces of transit commuters, we determine a clear disparity between commuters and noncommuters and confirm the existence of job–house imbalance in Beijing. The findings provide useful insights for policymakers to shape a more balanced job–housing relationship by adjusting the monocentric urban structure of Beijing. In addition, the extracted individual-level commuting patterns can be used as valuable information for public transit network design and optimization. These strategies are expected to reduce car dependency, shorten excess commute, and alleviate traffic congestion.

The Influence of Jobs–Housing Balance and Socio-economic Characteristics on Commuting in a Polycentric City

Substantial increases in commuting times have become a serious problem affecting the quality of life in Chinese megacities. Accordingly, research into the dynamics of urban spatial restructuring and socio-economic transition in rapidly growing Chinese cities and the impacts on workers’ travel behaviour can provide important evidence in this research field. Using data from a recent survey of employees at their workplaces in sub-centres of Beijing, a multiple linear regression analysis was employed to measure the effect of certain variables on workers’ commuting time, by identifying relationships between the various independent variables (local jobs–housing spatial relationships, individual socio-economic characteristics and choice of transport mode) and the dependent variable (workers’ commuting times). The results of the regression analysis show that jobs–housing balance has a more significant impact on workers’ commuting times than socio-economic characteristics. The results also suggest that workers’ commuting behaviour is strongly related to socio-economic characteristics such as income, age, gender and education, as well as institutional factors such as economic and land-use reforms.

Restraining transport inequality in growing cities: Can spatial planning play a role?

ABSTRACTThe burden of commuting has become a key issue in relation to the quality of urban life in large cities, particularly in large growing cities in developing countries. There has now arisen a serious problem with transport inequality, with low-income families usually bearing a high level of travel burden. It is widely believed that spatial planning could help to restrain this increasing transport inequality rather than only the provision of expensive transport infrastructure. However, opinions on this claim are still mixed. In addition, empirical evidence from developing countries remains scarce. This article reports on an initial investigation into the effects of spatial planning on low-income earners' commuting burden by looking at the case of Beijing. The results of the analysis show that there is obvious transport inequality, as low- and middle-income earners have longer commuting times than high-income earners. Elements of the built environment have a significant influence on low-income earners' commuting burden when socioeconomic factors are taken into account. Compared to middle- and high-income workers, low-income earners' commuting times, in particular, are significantly related to some planning elements, such as mixed land use and the jobs–housing balance. Improvements in the road network and metro services may play a limited role in reducing low-income earners' commuting time. Finally, targeted employment or housing development should be integrated with transport planning in transport policies aiming for greater equity.

Crisis, educación y precariedad-afluencia. El rol de la educación en las condiciones de vida de la población española

El objeto de este artículo es estudiar la influencia del nivel educativo (capital cultural) en los procesos de precariedad-afluencia de la población española entre los años posteriores a la crisis de inicio de la década de 1990 y los años más duros de la crisis de 2007. A partir de los datos de las encuestas PHOGUE y ECV del Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE) se han construido cuatro indicadores para medir la precariedad laboral, de ingresos, de salud y de vivienda y su distribución según distintas variables demográficas. Se pretende contrastar la hipótesis de que más educación significa más protección frente a la precariedad, estudiando diferentes condiciones de las condiciones de vida y existencia en momentos tanto de crecimiento como de crisis económica. Mediante un análisis multivariable se intenta determinar el nivel de impacto del capital cultural, alcance, evolución y, sobre todo, si sus efectos positivos o negativos están en proceso de expansión o desaceleración. El resultado tiene una doble aportación: de un lado, metodológica, consistente en la construcción de los indicadores; de otro lado, los resultados, con los que se puede reevaluar algunas generalizaciones sobre la pérdida de importancia del rol de la educación en las sociedades contemporáneas.

A scenario approach to the evaluation of sustainable urban structure for reducing carbon dioxide emissions in Seoul

The effort to reduce carbon dioxide emissions has become an important issue in a variety of fields, including urban systems. Hence, a more detailed planning policy, with appropriate approaches to evaluation, is necessary to determine the future urban spatial structure. In this paper, we utilize geographic information system (GIS) to estimate the travel times for journeys undertaken by automobiles and subway systems, and a modal split model is proposed to estimate the modal share. Then, the reduction ratio of carbon dioxide emissions is evaluated by assessing several scenarios intended to determine the best policy directions for reorganizing the urban spatial structure, with the aim of lowering the environmental impacts. As a result, a reduction of carbon dioxide emissions could be achieved in the following ways: (1) long distance commutes could be reduced by increasing residential spaces where jobs are plentiful, (2) areas where accessibility to stations is good and also where the modal share of subways is high should be given priority for development, and (3) commutes could be decreased by improving the jobs–housing balance.

Approaches to workforce housing in London and Chicago: from targeted sectors to income-based eligibility

In many cities, people with jobs essential to daily urban life—bus drivers, teachers, police, nurses and the like—cannot afford housing in proximity to their work. Municipal efforts to counter such job–housing imbalances include targeting such workers specifically or moderate-income households, more broadly, for housing support. This article investigates and assesses housing policy for modest-income workers in two cities, Chicago and London. Based on review of documents and key informant interviews, each city’s policy context, aims, means and outcomes are analyzed. Effective strategies include working with public, private and third-sector partners to find upstream cost-effective solutions, increasing shared equity/ownership products and developing mechanisms to ensure long-term affordability of workforce housing. While each city’s policies reflect local conditions, they also are indicative of broad trends in intermediate housing policy: an increase in stakeholders involved in programme administration and delivery, a continued focus on homeownership, rising income thresholds for eligibility and a shift away from targeting employment sectors.