Showing papers on "Metropolitan area published in 1995"

World Cities in a World-System

Abstract: This collection of 17 original studies is concerned with both theoretical and practical aspects of the growing importance of the major international cities in the global economy. The studies "examine the nature of world cities and their demands as special places in need of specific urban policies; the relationship between world cities within global networks of economic flows; and the relationship between world city research and world-systems analysis and other theoretical frameworks." The studies are organized into three parts which cover the hypothesis and context of the world city cities in systems and politics and policy issues. (EXCERPT)

Commuting in transit versus automobile neighborhoods

Abstract: In recent years, there has been a chorus of calls to redesign America's suburbs so that they are less dependent on automobile access and more conducive to transit riding, walking, and bicycling. This article compares commuting characteristics of transit-oriented and auto-oriented suburban neighborhoods, in the San Francisco Bay Area and in Southern California. Transit neighborhoods averaged higher densities and had more gridded street patterns compared to their nearby counterparts with auto-oriented physical designs. Neighborhoods were matched in terms of median incomes and, to the extent possible, transit service levels, to control for these effects. For both metropolitan areas, pedestrian modal shares and trip generation rates tended to be considerably higher in transit than in auto-oriented neighborhoods. Transit neighborhoods had decidedly higher rates of bus commuting only in the Bay Area. Islands of transit-oriented neighborhoods in a sea of freeway-oriented suburbs seem to have negligible ...

The geography of metropolitan opportunity: A reconnaissance and conceptual framework

Abstract: We present a conceptual framework for metropolitan opportunity and a model of individual decision making about issues affecting youth's future socioeco‐nomic status. Decision making and its geographic context have objective and subjective aspects. Objective spatial variations occur in the metropolitan opportunity structure—social systems, markets, and institutions that aid upward mobility. Decisions are based on the decision‐maker's values, aspirations, preferences, and subjective perceptions of possible outcomes, which are all shaped by the local social network (e.g., kin, neighbors, and friends). We also review the psychological literature on decision making. We hypothesize that the decision‐making method varies with the range of opportunities considered: Those with fewer options adopt a less considered method wherein mistakes and short‐term focus are more likely. Our review also finds empirical evidence that the local social network has an important effect on youth's decisions regarding educat...

Spatial Mismatch or Automobile Mismatch? An Examination of Race, Residence and Commuting in US Metropolitan Areas.

Abstract: This paper uses data from the metropolitan samples of the American Housing Survey in 1977-78 and 1985 to examine the commute patterns of whites, blacks and Hispanics in US metropolitan areas, with a particular focus on the commutes of workers living in predominantly minority residential areas. Overall, the commute patterns of white and minority workers appear to be converging rather than diverging over time, even among low-skilled workers. Contrary to the spatial mismatch hypothesis, black and Hispanic workers living in minority areas had both shorter commutes and commutes that increased more slowly between 1977-78 and 1985 compared to workers in other areas. Further, a longitudinal analysis shows that the average commute times of non-moving minority workers in predominantly minority areas decreased during the study period. We find no evidence in these commuting data to support the spatial mismatch hypothesis.

Imagining land use futures: applying the california urban futures model

Abstract: The California Urban Futures Model (or CUF Model) is the first of a new generation of metropolitan planning models designed to help planners, elected officials, and citizen groups create and compare alternative land-use policies. This article explains how the CUF Model works and then demonstrates its use in simulating realistic alternatives for regional and subregional growth policy/planning. Part One explains the design principles and logic of the CUF Model. Part Two presents CUF Model simulation results of three alternatives for growth policy/land-use planning alternatives for the San Franciso Bay and Sacramento areas. Part Three demonstrates the use of the CUF Model for evaluating alternative agricultural protection and zoning policies at the county, or sub-regional, level.

Housing Price Dynamics within a Metropolitan Area

Abstract: This paper analyzes the pattern of cross-sectional house price appreciation in the Boston metropolitan area from 1982 to 1994. The empirical results are consistent with many of the predictions of a standard urban model in which towns have a fixed set of locational attributes and amenities. In particular, the evidence suggests that house prices in towns with a large share of residents working in the manufacturing sector in 1980 grew less quickly in the ensuing years when aggregate manufacturing employment fell. As baby boomers moved into middle age, house values appreciated faster in towns with a larger initial percentage of middle-aged residents. Housing values rose more slowly in towns that allowed additional construction, and values rose faster in towns closer to Boston. Finally, as fewer families had children who attended public schools statewide, the price premium associated with housing in towns with good schools fell. All of these findings support the view that town amenities and public services are not easily replicated or quickly adaptable to shifts in demand, even within a metropolitan area.

Predictors of intentions to leave the ward, the hospital, and the nursing profession: A longitudinal study

Abstract: The stages preceding and following the intention to withdraw from an organization have not been adequately examined. Data were collected at two time periods from a sample of 146 nurses working in a general hospital located in a large metropolitan area in Israel. Essentially, intention to withdraw from three levels — ward, hospital and profession — were examined. LISREL was used to test alternative longitudinal models for the best fitting set of linkages among variables. The findings supported a progression model of withdrawal intention. According to this conceptualization, a nurse first decides to leave the ward, then the hospital, and, finally, the profession. Theoretical and practical implications of the results were presented.

Downtown Redevelopment Strategies in the United States: An End-of-the-Century Assessment

Abstract: The downtowns of American cities present a dilemma. Civic and business leaders view downtown as the key but troubled ingredient of the overall metropolitan fabric. Downtowns are seen as definitive of overall city identity, so cities of all sizes and in all regions are committed to successful downtown redevelopment. Yet, despite three decades of continuous redevelopment policies and projects, most American downtowns still have serious economic problems and are perceived, particularly by suburbanites, as inconvenient, obsolete, and even dangerous places. Hence some critics would declare that downtown redevelopment policies have failed. Others, however, believe that redevelopment has contributed to shaping a new downtown, one with a more specialized role in the metropolitan region. This Longer View describes and evaluates contemporary policy on downtown redevelopment in the United States, in particular seven widely-used strategies of planning and design: pedestrianization, indoor shopping centers, h...

Rail Transit Investments, Real Estate Values, and Land Use Change: A Comparative Analysis of Five California Rail Transit Systems

Abstract: Transportation systems are the glue that binds together American cities. From the first boulevard, through the horse-drawn streetcars of the 19th Century, through the electric trolleys of the early 1900s, to the freeways of the post-World War II era, transportation investments have long played a defining role in guiding the growth and development of metropolitan areas. What is today called the “transportation-land use connection” has been the object of study by geographers and economists for more than 150 years, and the focus of attention for developers and speculators for even longer.

Changing Geography of Metropolitan Opportunity, The: The Segregation of the Poor in U.S. Metropolitan Areas, 1970 to 1990

Abstract: This analysis uses census tract-level data to measure the segregation of the poor in large U.S. metropolitan areas in 1970, 1980, and 1990. Two measures of segregation are used?the indices of dissimilarity and isolation. The report begins with a description of these two indices and the data used for the analysis. The subsequent discussion presents a cross-sectional analysis of the isolation of the poor in the 100 largest U.S. metropolitan areas in 1990. The next section covers how segregation of the poor changed from 1970 to 1990 in these areas, and finally the report summarizes the findings of the analysis.

A technical review of urban land use: transportation models as tools for evaluating vehicle travel reduction strategies

Abstract: The continued growth of highway traffic in the United States has led to unwanted urban traffic congestion as well as to noticeable urban air quality problems. These problems include emissions covered by the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments (CAAA) and 1991 Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA), as well as carbon dioxide and related {open_quotes}greenhouse gas{close_quotes} emissions. Urban travel also creates a major demand for imported oil. Therefore, for economic as well as environmental reasons, transportation planning agencies at both the state and metropolitan area level are focussing a good deal of attention on urban travel reduction policies. Much discussed policy instruments include those that encourage fewer trip starts, shorter trip distances, shifts to higher-occupancy vehicles or to nonvehicular modes, and shifts in the timing of trips from the more to the less congested periods of the day or week. Some analysts have concluded that in order to bring about sustainable reductions in urban traffic volumes, significant changes will be necessary in the way our households and businesses engage in daily travel. Such changes are likely to involve changes in the ways we organize and use traffic-generating and-attracting land within our urban areas. The purpose of this review is to evaluate the ability of current analytic methods and models to support both the evaluation and possibly the design of such vehicle travel reduction strategies, including those strategies involving the reorganization and use of urban land. The review is organized into three sections. Section 1 describes the nature of the problem we are trying to model, Section 2 reviews the state of the art in operational urban land use-transportation simulation models, and Section 3 provides a critical assessment of such models as useful urban transportation planning tools. A number of areas are identified where further model development or testing is required.

The Weakening Transportation-Land Use Connection

Abstract: The precise relationship between transportation and land use continues to elude us. It seems self-evident that transportation facilities and services have enormous effects on land use patterns. We've all observed developments occur around freeway interchanges, and we all know the history of automobile-oriented suburban development. However, when we look beyond broad generalizations, we see far more complex and uncertain relationships, as well as a cluster of unsubstantiated beliefs.

Planned Communities, Self-containment and Commuting: A Cross-national Perspective

Abstract: Many new towns are planned as balanced, self-contained communities. This paper examines the association between how self-contained new towns are and how their residents and workers commute, drawing upon experiences in the US, the UK, metropolitan Paris and greater Stockholm. While American new towns are fairly self-contained, their commuting characteristics are largely indistinguishable from less-planned control communities. Britain's most recent new towns are highly balanced and self-contained, yet they are comparatively auto-dependent. By contrast, the rail-served new towns outside Paris and Stockholm are the least self-contained among the new towns studied; however, most external commutes are by rail transit or other non-auto modes. In general, there was an inverse relationship between self-containment and transit commuting in the European new towns studied. The paper concludes that other policies, like coordinated transit services, more strongly influence commuting choices among new town residents and...

China's urban transition.

Abstract: Urbanization in China is proceeding rapidly in step with population growth and a structural shift in employment from farming to industrial, commercial, and service jobs. Two additional causal factors drive the recent rapid urbanization. First, policies related to migration and household registration have been relaxed to allow more farmers to move to cities as transient workers. Second, economic reforms have resulted in new rules and regulations that promote foreign investment and trade activities in coastal areas. The results are seen in the emergence of four extended metropolitan regions in coastal areas (Shanghai-Nanjing, Beijing-Tianjin-Tangshan, Canton-Hong Kong, and Dalian-Shenyang). These metro regions have markedly different demographic, employment, migration, and foreign investment patterns from other parts of China. Such patterns presage the likely future form of China's urbanization as the country enters a period of accelerated urbanization.

The changing metropolitan structure of atlanta, georgia: locations of functions and regional structure in a multinucleated urban area

Abstract: The study of suburban downtowns in the past has emphasized the emergence of multinucleation in urban structure and the growing independence of multiple urban realms. The purpose of this study is to develop a framework to identify and compare the employment profiles of each downtown in a metropolitan area, including the CBD. Using data on retail employment, services, and finance, insurance, and real estate (FIRE), the four downtowns that exist in the Atlanta region are examined, together with scattered-site employment. This study suggests that downtowns, rather than existing as independent urban realms, are mutually interdependent based on work-trip commuting patterns, shopping behavior, and traffic flows in general, all of which increasingly are automobile based. Mass transit ridership suffers from its primary focus on radial services to and from the CBD and poor service levels to other downtowns and to scattered employment sites.

Exposure of City Residents to Carbon Monoxide and Monocyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons during Commuting Trips in the Paris Metropolitan Area

Abstract: A study was conducted from October 1991 to September 1992 in the Paris metropolitan area to assess the exposure of city-dwellers who are directly or indirectly exposed to car exhaust fumes during t...

Patterns of Development on the Metropolitan Fringe: Urban Fringe Expansion in Bangkok, Jakarta, and Santiago

Abstract: This paper revisits the question of how best to characterize settlements on the metropolitan fringe of developing countries. We examine the socioeconomic composition and structure of such urban fringe settlements, using three sets of household surveys undertaken in Bangkok (Thailand), Jakarta (Indonesia), and Santiago (Chile) during June-August 1990. The findings reveal the metropolitan fringe areas to be populated mainly by middle- and lower-middle-income households formally employed in service occupations. Informal economic activity exists, but is not significant. Micro-enterprises are the exception. Most fringe residents had moved from other neighborhoods within the capital city rather than from rural settlements. Linkages to rural areas and to agriculture are largely absent; the fringe is spatially and functionally well-integrated into the metropolitan economy. The paper recommends that foreign-assistance program officers and local planners resist global “common themes” or approaches to devel...

Neighborhood Change under Conditions of Mass Immigration: The New York City Region, 1970-1990.

Abstract: This article investigates the shifting racial and ethnic composition of neighborhoods in the Greater New York metropolitan region in the 1970–1990 period, during which the region has been one of th...

The effects of taxes, expenditures, and public infrastructure on metropolitan area employment*

Abstract: . Data for 28 metropolitan areas over a 15-year period are used to determine the impacts of government spending, taxes, and public infrastructure on total employment and disaggregated employment. After carefully controlling for the government budget constraint we find that taxes are negatively related to total employment and education spending is positively related to total employment. Nevertheless, we find that it is difficult for metropolitan areas to influence the composition of their employment with government tax and expenditure policies. Moreover, at current levels of public infrastructure, marginal changes in infrastructure have no strong effect on employment.

Cities in competition: productive and sustainable cities for the 21st century.

Abstract: This collective work examines aspects of urban change around the world. "Part 1 describes the global expansion of markets through technology diffusion decreasing cost and increasing speed of transport and communication increasing diffusion of information and declining barriers to trade....Part 2 outlines the increasing competition generated among firms and between cities and the impacts on the urban hierarchy including the creation of winners and losers....Part 3 considers the creation of technopoles or technology cities as centres for innovation and development of new technologies and industries....Part 4 analyses changing patterns of living and working at the metropolitan level including dispersal of employment into the suburbs and beyond and the consequences for commuting patterns public transport and sustainability of development....Part 5 considers the nature of sustainability of urban systems and of ecosystems for their support and the implications for urban system simulation and planning." (EXCERPT)

Race Still Matters: The Minimal Role of Income and Housing Cost as Causes of Housing Segregation in St. Louis, 1990

Abstract: Two techniques are used to examine the extent to which racial housing segregation in the St. Louis metropolitan area in 1990 is attributable to income and housing cost differences between African-A...

Economies and Diseconomies of Agglomeration

Abstract: The paradox in urban economics over the last thirty years is that agglomeration economies (and diseconomies) are the driving force behind explanations of geographical concentration of economic activity and population within cities, yet remain something of a black box. There have been, as we shall see, several diverse attempts to measure these economies, but their precise role remains elusive. External economies of scale (both for individual industries and for economic activity as a whole) help to explain why economic activity (and population) concentrate in cities, while population-related scale economies subject to distance decay (threshold and range in central place parlance) account for the concentration of higher order consumer services (e.g., specialist hospitals, professional sports and cultural facilities, “commuter” universities) in larger urban centers. On the other hand, spatial concentration is eventually limited by offsetting diseconomies, ranging from pecuniary diseconomies (e.g., high land rents and wages) to traffic congestion and density-related pollution. The tension between these counteracting forces explains how fast metropolitan areas grow. More interesting, they largely account for the changes in metropolitan spatial structure over time. Why? Because, historically, both the agglomeration economies and congestion costs are generated within the central core, and as the economies begin to be overwhelmed by the congestion effects, firms (and households) can escape the consequences by relocating to decentralized locations.

The Urban Grocery Store Gap

Abstract: In many of America's largest cities urban residents do not have supermarkets near their homes. This problem has been well documented in a few of the nation's largest cities. To date, however, there has been no attempt to present a national evaluation of the absence of supermarkets in many urban neighborhoods. This study uses zip code level demographic information from the 1990 Population Census and a complete census of all supermarkets in twenty-one of the nation's largest metropolitan statistical areas. Information on individual supermarkets, including square feet of selling space is classified into individual zip code areas. This allows one to measure the relationship between retail services per capita and demographic variables such as income per capita and percent of households receiving public assistance. Since we have zip codes for each of the twenty-one large metropolitan areas, included in this sample, we also can examine relationships between demographic variables and urban grocery store services on a city by city basis. This exercise reveals startling differences in the size of the urban grocery store gap in different U.S. cities. Some cities have actually solved the distribution problem while others face extremely serious distribution problems. Given the recent cuts at the Federal level in food programs and the clear-cut need to improve the efficiency of distribution of federal food program dollars, the focus on the ability of the supermarket food distribution system to deliver food in an efficient, i.e., reasonably priced fashion, to low-income urban neighborhoods is extremely timely.

Clustering Methods for Real Estate Portfolios

Abstract: A clustering algorithm is applied to effective rents for twenty-one metropolitan US office markets, and to twenty-two metropolitan markets using vacancy data It provides support for the conjecture that there exists a few major “families” of cities: including an oil and gas group and an industrial Northeast group Unlike other clustering studies, we find strong evidence of bicoastal city associations among cities such as Boston and Los Angeles We present a bootstrapping methodology for investigating the robustness of the clustering algorithm, and develop a means for testing the significance of city associations While the analysis is limited to aggregate rent and vacancy data, the results provide a guideline for the further application of cluster analysis to other types of real estate and economic information

Can Suburbs Survive without their Central Cities? Examining the Suburban Dependence Hypothesis

Abstract: Based on recent findings that changes in average suburban incomes are positively associated with changes in average central-city incomes, some have concluded that disparities between central cities and their suburbs cause decline in metropolitan economic growth. The authors argue that causality runs in the other direction—metropolitan-wide growth narrows disparities. The authors argue that cities and suburbs are interdependent, that there can be healthy individual suburbs and weak central cities, and that there can be healthy suburbs in the aggregate and extremely poor central cities.