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Title:

Does Sprawl Hold Down Upward Mobility? A National Study of the Association Between Urban Sprawl and Upward Mobility

Accession Number:

01555553

Record Type:

Component

Availability:

Transportation Research Board Business Office

500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001 United States

Abstract:

Contrary to the general perception, the United States has a much more class-bound society than other wealthy countries. That is, the chance of upward mobility for Americans is just a half that of the citizens of the Denmark and many other European countries. In addition to other influences, sprawling development patterns, dispersed job locations, and high job inaccessibility may contribute to the low rate of upward mobility in the U.S. In this study, the authors seek to test the relationship between urban sprawl and upward mobility for commuting zones in the U.S. They use structural equation modeling to account for both direct and indirect effects of sprawl on upward mobility. They find that upward mobility is significantly higher in compact areas than sprawling areas. The direct effect, which they attribute to better job accessibility in more compact commuting zones, is stronger than the indirect effects. Of the indirect effects, only one, through the mediating variable income segregation, is significant.

Supplemental Notes:

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ADD50 Environmental Justice in Transportation.

Monograph Accession #:

01550057

Report/Paper Numbers:

15-1914

Language:

English

Corporate Authors:

Transportation Research Board

500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001 United States

Authors:

Ewing, Reid
Hamidi, Shima
Stoker, Philip
Grace, James

Pagination:

17p

Publication Date:

2015

Conference:

Transportation Research Board 94th Annual Meeting

Location: Washington DC, United States
Date: 2015-1-11 to 2015-1-15
Sponsors: Transportation Research Board

Media Type:

Digital/other

Features:

Figures; References; Tables

Geographic Terms:

United States

Subject Areas:

Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; Society; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning

Source Data:

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2015 Paper #15-1914

Files:

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Created Date:

Dec 30 2014 12:41PM