Longitudinal Cluster Analysis of Jobs–Housing Balance in Transit Neighborhoods

The jobs-housing balance is a spatial problem. Fixed-guideway transit systems (FGT) are capturing jobs across many metropolitan areas. Planners and policymakers have multiple justifications for focusing on efforts towards balance. For example, agglomeration economies, in large part the basis of metropolitan growth, benefit from the alleviation of congestion. Additionally, urban resilience is enhanced as workers can reduce transportation costs and utilize multiple modes of transportation. Moreover, Location Efficiency (LE), the optimal configuration of the built environment, is enhanced through job-worker balance. Transit systems can aid in alleviating congestion and in balancing jobs and housing. This paper presents a longitudinal study of spatial association of jobs, housing, and transit systems in Chicago before, during, and after the Great Recession. As workforce-housing balance is more indicative of internal capture, workers and jobs are classified by income level and analyzed for degrees of global and local spatial autocorrelation over time. The results show that LE transit neighborhoods are populated 61 in large part by high-income jobs and workers, and this trend has continued in Chicago since the recession and during the years of recovery. The overall change for all workers within a 2-mile band of both jobs and transit was a gain of 13% from 2002 to 2009, and a loss of -47.3% from 2009 to 2014, while high-income workers lost proximity from 2009 to 2014 at a rate of -4.7%. Policies are needed that aid workers of all income levels in enjoying the benefits of LE and the increasing development of FGT systems.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ADD20 Standing Committee on Social and Economic Factors of Transportation.
• Authors:
  • Hibberd, Robert E
  • Nelson, Arthur C
  • 0000-0003-2578-3884
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 97th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2018-1-7 to 2018-1-11
• Date: 2018

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 15p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Cluster analysis; Housing; Jobs; Longitudinal studies; Neighborhoods; Public transit; Transit oriented development
• Geographic Terms: Chicago (Illinois)
• Subject Areas: Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01659657
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 18-03557
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Feb 8 2018 5:03PM