Residential income segregation and commuting in a Latin American city

Abstract

This paper examines residential income segregation and individual commuting time to work in a sub-region of the Belo Horizonte Metropolitan Region (BHMR), in Brazil. The main goal of this case study is to test the spatial mismatch hypothesis, with specific attention drawn to change in commute duration from 2000 to 2010. The methodology includes spatial analysis, and seemingly unrelated regression models. Over time, the results suggest a 'trap' in which residents of low-income segregated areas experienced a high probability of having longer commute duration and of using public transportation, creating a mutually self-enforcing process. The spatial mismatch hypothesis is supported by the analysis, demonstrating that there is a need to promote shorter commuting time to work for the BHMR urban poor. Highlights:• The spatial mismatch hypothesis is supported in this case study located in the Global South. • A notable spatial pattern of residential segregation between low-income (periphery) and high-income (core) was observed • Commuters living in low-income segregated areas tended to experience shorter commuting time to work in 2000 than in 2010. • A mutually self-enforcing 'trap' for residents of low-income segregated areas with longer commuting was observed.a pressing challenge for cities around the world, urging policy makers to deliver alternative solutions about planning-related topics such as housing, and transportation.Research on residential segregation has often focused on large cities in the Global North (for Sweden, see Nielsen & Hennerdal, 2017) and, within that framework, Chetty, Hendren, Kline, and Saez (2014) have developed a very important study in the literature. Chetty et al. (2014)found that, in American cities, residents living in areas with less residential segregation, according to income level, experience higher economic upward mobility than those living in areas with more residential segregation. They also found that the higher the fraction of working individuals with short commuting times, the higher the chance for upward mobility in that area (Chetty et al., 2014(Chetty et al., , p. 1617. In other words, residents are more likely to improve their economic conditions when they live in areas with job options nearby. This latter finding is based on the spatial mismatch hypothesis, which was firstly posed by Kain (1968). He argued that in U.S. cities "racial segregation in the housing markets affects the distribution of [black] employment and reduces [black] job opportunities" (Kain, 1968, p. 176).This paper expands Chetty's et al. (2014) approach to the Global South context, and contributes to the empirical literature on segregation in Brazil, which "is still in its infancy" (Fernandes, 2017, p. 2). This study focuses on a sub-region of the Belo Horizonte Metropolitan Region (BHMR) as a case study to examine how residential income segregation functions in tandem with the time that individuals spend commuting to work, illustrating urban inequality in access to jobs in a Latin American city. The...

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