Measuring the Structure of U.S. Metropolitan Areas, 1970-2000 Spatial Statistical Metrics and an Application to Commuting Behavior

Problem, research strategy, and findings: Metropolitan planning organizations attempt to shape urban form at the regional and metropolitan scale, including the pattern of suburban centers. How do these efforts change behavior? Our study informs that question by way of a new family of urban form metrics summarizing the polycentric structure of U. S. metropolitan areas. Using a spatial statistical approach, these measures are sensitive to the size, amount, and location of suburban centers. The article then tests the influence of these structures on commute times nationally from 1970 to 2000. Takeaway for practice: The influence of development densities on travel in sprawling regions is more complicated than previously understood or measured. While the level of both neighborhood density and regional density explain average commuting times, density also works relatively. The spatial variation of density, the density of suburban centers relative to the region, and the spatial distribution of high-density nodes each appear to play distinct roles in influencing travel.