Jobs-housing Balance Research Articles

Assessing the delineated commuter sheds of various clustering methods

In commuting research the geographic area under investigation is of central importance. When examining commutes occurring in a region of interest, the selection and use of different city, county, or metropolitan region boundaries will have a large impact on analyses of travel times and distances, whether a transit network provides adequate access to jobs, levels of congestion, and so on. This research examines two cluster detection methods to delineate the commuter shed of Miami, Florida and Cincinnati, Ohio. These clusters are then compared to a series of government delineated boundaries often used in commuting research for a jobs-housing balance analysis of each. The results of the clustering methods are different for the two regions due to the differing urban forms of each. The results demonstrate that the decision of what boundary to use for research on commuting can lead to drastically different results. While there is not necessarily any correct boundary, one may be more appropriate and the rationale for such should be more thoroughly discussed.

Relationship between multi-scale urban built environments and body mass index: A study of China

Previous literature on the link between the built environment and body mass index (BMI) has paid very limited attention to the built environment at different geographical scales, the moderating effects of socioeconomic attributes, or developing countries, and has provided mixed evidence on some built-environment attributes. Thus, in this study, we explore the relationship between the built environment at both neighborhood and city scales and BMI, based on a sample of 4114 individuals from across China. Our findings show that (1) built-environment elements at both city and neighborhood scales are significant associated with BMI, although the city-scale built environment elements show more associations with BMI than the neighborhood scale; (2) the relationship between built-environment elements and BMI is moderated by individual socioeconomic attributes and behaviors; and (3) while at first, BMI decreases with increased city population density, it subsequently increases as density increases further. Thus, to prevent overweight and obesity, urban policymakers should consider the built environment at both neighborhood and city scales, give sufficient considerations to the heterogeneous effects of individual socioeconomic attributes and behaviors, highlight the reasonable size and density of cities and promote the jobs-housing balance.

Assessment of Job-Housing Scenario and Its Impacts on the Dwellers of Chittagong City

One of the issues in land use planning today is jobs-housing balance. Like most other developing countries, Bangladesh fails to manage the balance between job and housing capacity and this situation is worse in Chittagong City. Our objectives in this paper are twofold. Firstly, we calculate the job-housing ratio to understand the job-housing scenario in the study area. Secondly, we identify the causes behind the imbalanced ratio, as well its impacts on employees. Using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP), we identify the causes and rank them based on employees' perception.

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.

Travel mode choices in small cities of China: A case study of Changting

The existing literature on urban transportation planning in China focuses primarily on large cities and neglects small cities. This paper aims to fill part of the knowledge gap by examining travel mode choice in Changting, a small city that has been experiencing fast spatial expansion and growing transportation problems. Using survey data collected from 1470 respondents on weekdays and weekends, the study investigates the relationship between mode choice and individuals’ socio-economic characteristics, trip characteristics, attitudes, and home and workplace built environments. While more than 35 percent of survey respondents are car owners, walk, bicycle, e-bike, and motorcycle still account for over 85 percent of trips made during peak hours. E-bike and motorcycle are the dominant means of travel on weekdays, but many people shift to walking and cycling on weekends, making non-motorized and semi-motorized travel especially important for non-commuting trips. Results of multinomial logistic regression show that: (1) job-housing balance might exert different effects on mode choice in different types of urban areas; (2) negative attitude towards e-bike and motorcycle is associated with more walking and cycling; and (3) land use diversity of workplace is related to commuting mode choice on weekdays, while land use diversities of both residential and activity places do not significantly affect mode choice on weekends. Our findings imply that planning and design for small cities needs to differentiate land use and transportation strategies in various types of areas, and to launch outreach programs to shift people’s mode choice from motorized travel to walking and cycling.

Commute happiness in Xi’an, China: Effects of commute mode, duration, and frequency

Commuting between home and work is an important aspect of everyday life. Based upon the broaden and build theory of positive emotions, experiencing happiness during commutes generates positive emotions that are beneficial for both individual and societal well-being. The existing literature on commute happiness is dominated by studies from the U.S., Canada, and Europe. Little is known about commute happiness in Chinese cities where electric bikes and employer-provided shuttle buses are common commute modes. This study uses original survey data collected from Xi’an, China to examine how commute happiness may differ across eight commute modes (walk, private bike, public bike, bus, subway, electric bike, shuttle bus, and private car) and by commute duration and frequency, while controlling for personal demographics and overall health and well-being. Results show that commute mode and duration are significantly associated with commute happiness while commute frequency is not. People who use employer shuttle buses reported the highest commute happiness, followed by people who use private bikes and then people who walk. People who use regular city buses reported the lowest commute happiness. People who use subway, public bikes, and electric bikes show no differences in commute happiness from car users. Longer commute duration is associated with lower happiness. Recommendations for Chinese cities to promote commute happiness include improving public bus services, investing in pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure, enhancing bike-transit integration, encouraging employer shuttle bus programs, and fostering jobs-housing balance. The results also indicate a gender gap in commute happiness that merits additional research.

The impact of land-use mix on residents' travel energy consumption: New evidence from Beijing

Policies that encourage mixed land use are widely believed to make transport more energy efficient. However, few studies have directly examined the impacts of land-use heterogeneity on travel energy consumption at the individual level. Moreover, the definition and measures of land-use heterogeneity are debated. This paper aims to fill these gaps using the large city of Beijing, China, as a case study. Three types of land use are examined in terms of their effects on individual residents’ travel energy consumption. The results suggest that high land-use diversity and a good jobs-housing balance significantly reduces commuting travel. Interestingly, highly heterogeneous retail and housing areas may have high travel energy use, as residents are more likely to go shopping. There are obvious spatial variations in these effects. Residents of suburban ‘newtowns’, where the jobs-housing balance is particularly good, consume less travel energy. The results suggest that decreased use of conventional planning patterns, such as the socialist danwei system, and increasing urban sprawl, bring new challenges to achieving transport efficiency. Mixed land-use policies can be an effective solution to these challenges.

Investigating the relationship between jobs-housing balance and traffic safety

This study aimed to investigate the effects of jobs-housing balance on traffic safety. The crash, demographic characteristics, employment, road network, household characteristics and traffic data were collected from the Los Angeles in 2010. One-way ANOVA tests indicated that the jobs-housing ratio significantly affects traffic safety in terms of crash frequency at traffic analysis zone (TAZ). To quantify the safety impacts of jobs-housing balance, the semi-parametric geographically weighted Poisson regression (S-GWPR) was further used to link crash frequency at TAZ with jobs-housing ratio and other contributing factors. The S-GWPR provides better fitness to the data than do the generalized linear regression, as the S-GWPR accounts for the spatial heterogeneity. The S-GWPR results showed that the jobs-housing relationship has a significant association with crash frequency at TAZ when the factors of traffic, network, and household characteristics are controlled. Crash frequency at TAZ level increases with an increase in the jobs-housing ratio. To further investigate the interactive effects between jobs-housing ratio and other factors, a comparative analysis was conducted to compare the variable elasticities under different jobs-housing ratios. The results indicate considerable interactive effects that traffic conditions and road network characteristics have different effects on crash frequency under various jobs-housing ratios.

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.

Impact of the built environment on the vehicle emission effects of road pricing policies: A simulation case study

In order to develop a road pricing policy that is effective in reducing vehicle emissions, this paper explores the relationship between road pricing, the urban built environment, and vehicle emissions. Existing studies generally tend to choose a city or an entire region as the research object. For this reason, these kinds of studies can neither analyze the differences in the vehicle emission effects of road charging on regions with different built environment attributes, nor distinguish how different built environment attributes affect the vehicle emission effects of road user charging. To fill in the research gap, this paper focuses on the influences of road charging on the vehicle emissions of regions with different built environment characteristics. In order to achieve the above mentioned goal, this paper first applies a method which combines the land use and transport interaction model with a vehicle emission model to simulate the automobile emissions under different road pricing schemes. Then, using multiple regression analysis, this paper establishes the association between the built environment attributes and the vehicle emissions under different road charging levels. Additionally, using factor analysis and cluster analysis, this research further distinguishes the vehicle emission effects of road pricing based on attributes of the built environment. The results confirmed that road pricing affects vehicle emissions in different regions differently. More importantly, not every region will experience decreases in vehicle emissions after the implementation of a road charging policy. The presence of retail amenities, good street design, and public transportation, the more significant the effect of road pricing in reducing vehicle emissions. Furthermore, a healthy jobs-housing balance is also conducive to the decline of regional automobile emissions as well.

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.

Urban transport carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by commuters in rapidly developing Cities: The comparative study of Beijing and Xi’an in China

To understand the changing relationships between commuting CO2 emissions (CCE), travel behavior and urban forms, this paper provides a comparative study between the typical Chinese cities of Beijing (more developed) and Xi’an (rapidly developing). Further, the effects of metro services on reducing CCE were explored, and comparative analysis on CCE between the inner sprawling suburbs and outer suburbs was conducted. It was found that: (i) the increases in CCE are several times larger than the increases in urban size, population, and economic developments; (ii) metro services reducing CCE near metro stations is not statistically significant, maybe because the proportions of car users near the metro stations are similar to the two cities’ average levels, which is caused by their higher household income and the longer travel time using the metro; (iii) in Beijing, there are smallest CCE in the outer suburbs due to job-housing balances, short distance and large percentage of non-motorized mode uses while largest CCE in the inner sprawl suburbs due to car trips with long distance. These findings indicate that to cope with the rapidly increasing CCE, more attention should be paid to developing strong industry and real-estate simultaneously; the improvement in the feeder bus and public bicycle systems should also be reinforced to reduce the total travel time of metro users; and satellite cities with job-housing balance are greatly needed. The implications will benefit efforts to reduce CCE and mitigate global climate change, and they also provide empirical evidence and reference values for other global cities.

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.

Mobility is in the eye of the beholder: A comparison of travel patterns and urban spatial use between migrants and the original residents of Danang, Vietnam

The development of an arterial road named the Nguyen Tat Thanh Road along the Danang Bay in Vietnam shows how changes in mobility can influence the transformation of the urban landscape in a formerly residential neighborhood. The road opened along the coastal lines of the city in 2003. In this study, approximately 460 residents, including migrants who moved to the area after the road development and the original residents who live near the road, were interviewed. The survey was designed to identify the travel routes, mode of transportation, and location of jobs, shopping, leisure, education, and religious activities of residents before and after the road development. The research found that the original residents endured longer commutes than the migrants, which was associated with a greater dispersion of jobs after the road development. Compared to the original residents, migrants often lived in a newly available parcel close to the new road and formed a mixed-use community with a good jobs-housing balance. However, migrants traveled farther to non-job-related destinations. For the use of urban space, the original residents attempted to improve the quality of their daily lives through small-scale transformations of privately owned outdoor spaces, which were often shared by their neighbors and other family members. Migrants largely contributed to the formation of commercialized streets that were scattered with fairly large accommodations and high-end residential buildings.

Quantifying and visualizing jobs-housing balance with big data: A case study of Shanghai

Existing jobs-housing balance studies have relied heavily if not solely on small data. Via a case study of Shanghai, this study shows how cellular network data can be processed to derive useful information, job and housing locations of commuters in particular, for those studies. Based on cellular network data, this article quantifies and visualizes Shanghai's jobs-housing balance with a much larger sample (n=6.3 million), finer spatial resolution and greater geographic coverage than ever before. It identifies and geocodes the local commuters by Base Transceiver Station (BTS), which has on average a service area of 0.16km2. After detecting jobs and housing by BTS, it aggregates them by subareas of particular interest (e.g., traffic analysis zones, inner city, suburbs and exurbs) to local planners and decision-makers. It also visualizes the traffic flows associated with the actual (Tact), theoretical minimum (Tmin) and maximum (Tmax) commutes. It shows that Shanghai's commuting pattern is far from the extremes (indicated by Tmax and Tmin traffic flows) and Shanghai's relative balance of jobs with respect to housing is decent (3.2km) despite its huge population (24 million) and land area sizes (6800km2). The cumulative distribution of the Tact and Tmin flows vary more significantly when the commuting distance is less than 6km. In theory, there is high concentration of both jobs and housing within a 6-kilometer radius across different locales of the city. This potentially allows over 95% of all the local workers to find a job within 6km of his/her residence or vice versa. In reality, a much lower percentage (71%) of workers can enjoy such a benefit. This can imply that there is qualitative mismatch between jobs and housing.

Strategic Planning for Employment Self-Containment in Metropolitan Sub-Regions

Metropolitan strategic plans often focus on strengthening local employment opportunities to address the congestion and commuting issues threatening city sustainability. The success of such strategies relies on a more equitable distribution of jobs between sub-regions and can be comparatively benchmarked through one of the three related measures of employment self-sufficiency, self-containment or jobs-housing balance. However, in practice, planning policy implementation to meet these targets seldom reduces automobile commuting. This paper investigates self-containment across a range of occupation and industry types to highlight large differences in commuting and employment patterns through a case study of Perth’s Northwest sub-region, Western Australia. Its findings suggest the application of current sub-regional policy and targets within Perth may reinforce the wage and skill disadvantage of outer metropolitan sub-regions over the inner core. It recommends a more nuanced understanding of these measures taking into account the complex dynamics of both employment opportunities and commuting patterns across sub-regions of a city.

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.

Sub-centres, socio-economic characteristics and commuting: a case study and its implications

ABSTRACTInstitutional and economic reforms in China have not only delivered major improvements in people’s living standards but also changed the spatial structure of Chinese cities. In addition, substantially increased commuting times have become a serious problem influencing quality of life in the mega-cities of China. Accordingly, research into the dynamics of urban restructuring in rapidly growing Chinese cities and the impacts on workers’ commuting patterns would provide important evidence in this research field. The results of this case study suggest that polycentric urban development has a significant influence on employees’ commuting times. Promoting local jobs-housing balance in sub-centres would shorten commuting times for workers. The findings also suggest that the locations and types of employment centres are significantly associated with individuals’ choice of housing and workplace locations, and accordingly their commuting behaviour. The effects of decentralization of employment on workers’ commuting times differ depending on the extent of suburbanization of different economic sectors. The findings in this research also suggest that workers’ commuting behaviour is related to individual socio-economic characteristics, such as income and education.

Understanding job-housing relationship and commuting pattern in Chinese cities: Past, present and future

There are debates about whether job-housing balance and short commuting distances could be achieved through government intervention in Western countries. However, few studies have been carried out in developing context. The present study aims to fill in this knowledge vacuum by studying how China’s changing socio-spatial context, particularly the spatial ideas of danwei, influences job-housing relationships and commuting patterns from a historical perspective. The results clearly show that the dominant trend in commuting patterns in Chinese cities has changed from intra-danwei commuting before 1978 to reverse commuting from the city center to the inner suburbs in 1978–1998, to long-distance suburb-to-city commuting since 1998. The findings suggest that government intervention could be helpful in achieving shorter commute in China, and that urban planning and policy that promote mixed land-use and job-housing balance should be considered. Some limitations of government intervention are also discussed.

Exploring Differences in Commuting Behaviour among Various Income Groups during Polycentric Urban Development in China: New Evidence and Its Implications

Income status is an important variable that is strongly associated with certain commuting behaviours of workers. This paper presents new evidence on how polycentric development impacts on workers’ commuting behaviour among various income groups in Beijing, China. This study suggests that three key influencing factors—the public transport network, the location of affordable housing projects and the process of employment decentralisation—have played significant roles in affecting workers’ commuting behaviour. The results of regression analysis indicate that subway and bus transport significantly and negatively influenced the commuting times of low- and middle-income workers, but the two transport modes did not have a significant influence on the commuting times of high-income workers. The findings from this research suggest that policies for promoting employment decentralisation during polycentric development have the potential to reduce workers’ commuting times through promoting jobs-housing balance in the sub-centres. The results of this study indicate that a balanced jobs-housing relationship can be achieved through adjustment of affordable housing locations, and this can be effective in shortening low-income workers’ commuting times in the sub-centres of Beijing.