The impact of urban growth on commuting patterns in a restructuring city: Evidence from Beijing

Abstract

Our existing knowledge of the links between urban growth and commuting patterns are dominated by cases from developed countries. This paper examines the impact of urban growth on workers' commutes using the case of Beijing, which is undergoing rapid economic and spatial restructuring. The results of an analysis of household survey data show that clustered and compact urban development in planned sub-centres is likely to reduce suburban workers' need for a long-distance commute to the city centre when the workers' socio-economic characteristics, the level of transport accessibility and household preferences for residential location are taken into account. Workers employed in the manufacturing sector tend to have shorter commutes and travel within the planned suburban sub-centres. This reveals that the decentralization of employment in the manufacturing sector provides more opportunities to enhance the spatial matches between household residential and job location choices. Household preferences for residential location have an effect on commuting patterns, and high-income workers are likely to accept longer commutes in order to fulfil their residential preferences. Dramatic urban restructuring, in conjunction with changes in lifestyle, is creating new commuting patterns in the rapidly growing cities of China. JEL classification: R14, R23

Evaluating the dynamic impacts of urban form on transportation and environmental outcomes in US cities

“…This 'commuting paradox' was explained by the likelihood that households and firms were rationally relocating to reduce commuting times, and that this spatial adjustment can be more easily made in dispersed metropolitan space with many alternative employment centers and residential location choices (Gordon et al 1991;Levinson and Kumar 1994;Sultana 2000). Dubin (1991), Crane and Chatman (2004), Zhao et al (2011) all found that the decentralization of employment to the suburbs decreased commuting times. On the other hand, Sultana and Chaney (2003) and Weber and Sultana (2007) showed that commuting times are higher in areas with low density.…”

The impact of urban form on commuting in large Chinese cities

“…Recently some studies were done on specific aspects of travel behaviour in individual Chinese cities (e.g. mode choice in Nanjing by Feng et al 2014) and only for Jinan (Jiang et al 2014) and Beijing (Yang 2006;Ma et al 2015;Zhao et al 2010Zhao et al , 2011 empirical studies are done that link travel behaviour to changes in the urban fabric. These studies are all based on case studies for a single city, mostly Beijing, and focus on the importance of neighbourhood characteristics at the individual city level, rather than aggregate city-wide characteristics.…”

The impacts of urban spatial structure and socio-economic factors on patterns of commuting: a review

“…In Beijing, China, employees in the manufacturing sector appear to have shorter commutes and travel within the planned suburban sub-centres. This indicates that the decentralization of employment in the manufacturing sector offers greater opportunities to improve the spatial balances between residential and workplace location choices (Zhao et al, 2011b). Lee et al (2006) indicated that in US metropolitan areas, the average commuting duration did not grow substantially in the 1990s, when these areas observed a significant decentralization of employment.…”

“…A study by Zhao et al (2011b) suggests that the likelihood of commuting to other areas in the suburbs grows when accessibility to transport is high. As indicated by Zhao et al (2011b), the main reason may be that improved public transport can decrease people's travel costs and thus allow them to be more mobile.…”

“…It showed that the average commuting time decreased in all the zones due to highway improvements following suburban clustered employment growth (polycentric development) in Istanbul from 1985 to 1997 (Alpkokin et al, 2008). Zhao et al (2011b) argued that employment decentralization and polycentric development in Beijing would be beneficial to the jobs and housing relationship. Regional policies could impact commuting patterns via the supply of various types of housing.…”