Spatial Structure and Commuting Behaviour

Applying a two-stage methodology that uses the distance decay gradient as measure of commuting behaviour, the article examines the effect of the spatial characteristics of the economic activities on commuting. The model, applied to Italian Travel To Work Areas, includes both some of the main spatial characteristics gathered from the literature and some new ones, aimed at testing if the socio-economic features of the area influence the effect the spatial characteristics on commuting. Estimates show that in more polycentric areas the decrease in the amount of commuters due to increases in commuting distance is, on average, higher than in more monocentric ones but that effect strongly depends on the industrial composition of the economy. Moreover, high level of urbanization economies leads to a less steep gradient, especially associated with a high share of high-skilled workers, describing a smoother decrease of commuting flows as the distance between job location and residence location increases. In addition, results show how most of these effects are not highlighted using the average commuting distance as measure of commuting behaviour.