Polycentric Employment Growth and the Commuting Behaviour in Benin Metropolitan Region, Nigeria

Abstract

<p>The paper investigates the emerging pattern of journey to work traffic that characterises the employment centres of a fast growing African city with reference to the case of Benin region, Nigeria. This is achieved by identifying and extracting the significant employment centres of the region. On the one hand, factor analysis and Getis-Ord statistic were systematically used to identify the spatial configuration of the region’s employment. Regression models on the other hand, were used to estimate the relationship that exists between job decentralisation and travel behaviour. Factor analysis and Getis-Ord statistic identified four significant employment clusters in the region. Multivariate and bivariate regression models were further used to explore the dynamics of commuting behaviour in response to decentralisation of employment centres. It is found that employment spatial structure exerts significant influence on all dimensions of commuting pattern of the region. The result shows that decentralisation of jobs in the metropolis has led to a reduction in commuting times, travel distance and significantly influence the modal choice of commuters.</p

Decentralization and Polycentricity: Spatial Changes of Employment in Beijing Metropolitan Area, China

“…The definition of centers has two aspects: first, it must have a higher density of employment than the surrounding areas, and second, it must have enough employment to influence other units' density distribution. Numerous methods have been studied to identify centers in metropolitan areas, and these methods can be divided into four categories: threshold value-setting methods [13], spatial clustering approaches [35][36][37][38], parameter regression models [39], and non-parameter regression [14,40]. These four methods have their own advantages and disadvantages.…”

The Impact of Urban Form and Spatial Structure on per Capita Carbon Footprint in U.S. Larger Metropolitan Areas

“…There is an extensive literature on the environmental benefits of compactness (high density and high centrality) associated with low energy consumption in mobility [17,[19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30] and housing [16][17][18]. In the case of mobility, compactness facilitates travel on foot or by public transport [13,15] and reduces commuting distances [31][32][33][34][35][36]. In the case of housing, the type of residential buildings in dense neighborhoods is characterized by the small size of the houses and the existence of shared walls, which leads to low energy consumption [16][17][18]37].…”

“…The impact of polycentrism on mobility is a dynamic novel line of research. Some studies found that living near a sub-center tends to decrease commuting distance [31][32][33][34][35][36]. Therefore, it is reasonable to hypothesize that polycentrism can…”

Identification of Polycentric Structures in Rio De Janeiro With Flow Data From the Metro System

“…These negative aspects sometimes exceed the benefits of spatial agglomeration (FERNÁNDEZ-MALDONADO et al, 2014). Therefore, relocation trends of economic activities at decentralised concentrations are caused by tension between economies and diseconomies of agglomeration and are theoretically understood as an outcome of multiple equilibria (ASIKHIA;NKEKI, 2013;FERNÁNDEZ-MALDONADO et al, 2014;LIN;ALLAN;CUI, 2015;SINCLAIR-SMITH, 2015;SINCLAIR-SMITH;TUROK, 2012).…”

“…As result, the use of cars is reduced, and cities are more compact than North American ones. One reason for that is that cities in developing countries are oriented toward short distance transportation modes, such as walking (ASIKHIA;NKEKI, 2013;FERNÁNDEZ-MALDONADO et al, 2014;NEWMAN;KENWORTHY, 1996). This paper refers to the Rio de Janeiro central area, the most consolidated part of the city, which historically concentrates most of the jobs of the metropolitan region (IETS, 2016).…”