Exploring metropolitan accessibility and urban structure

Location-based assessments of accessibility gauge the attraction of a place relative to other places. These approaches have been used extensively in models of commuting and urban structure. Even though locational accessibility measures are integral to such efforts, they may also be used to explore aspects of urban spatial structure. As such, this paper presents a GIS-based analysis of locational accessibility for a sample of U.S. metropolitan areas. Indices of accessibility based on spatial interaction models are developed for intraurban residential and employment locations. Results show that residential accessibility patterns are similar across cities, taking a concentric pattern where the central urban area is most attractive. However, employment accessibility varies more from city to city; moreover, the areas of highest employment accessibility tend to be decentralized within their respective regions. Overall, location-based accessibility indices are useful for exploring urban form, particularly with respect to issues of urban sprawl. Directions for future research are identified, including linking comparative urban accessibility measures to ongoing work on commuting, the jobs-housing balance, and urban structure.