A state of cities or a city-state? Metro-bound commuters and the distribution of people and employment in a monocentric city-region

Abstract

This thesis investigates the relationship between metro-bound commuting and regional development; asking whether over time metro-bound commuting results in a redistribution of economic functions and the reorganisation of the city-region into a more functionally polycentric urban structure. There is an increasing number of metropolitan workers living in rural or non-metropolitan areas, referred to as metro-bound commuters in this research. At the same time, there are concerns regarding the concentration of prosperity in major cities and diminishing opportunities for high-quality employment in regional cities and towns. This change has been seen as a consequence of the transition to service- and knowledge-based employment in developed economies. Previous research has indicated that there are consumption-based regional employment benefits from metro-bound commuting. This study extends these findings by assessing the quality of employment generated and the impact on regional communities as a result of metro-bound commuting. The outcome of this assessment indicates whether metro-bound commuting is a precursor to functional polycentrism, which has been promoted as a more equitable and efficient city-region morphology than monocentrism, or solely population-based polycentrism. The research uses mixed methods to investigate the regional employment effects of metro-bound commuting to Melbourne, Australia from its regional hinterlands. Census data and the results of a survey of commuters provide the basis for qualitative analyses. Interviews with commuters and representatives from government provide further insights into metro-bound commuting and its impacts on individuals and regional communities. The survey and interviews also provide new insights into the relationship between metro-bound commuting and regional employment through the effects of commuters' human capital and their households. The outcomes of the qualitative and quantitative analyses inform the analysis of local, state and commonwealth government policy and infrastructure proposals relating to regional economies and population. The results of this investigation demonstrate that the number of metro-bound commuters residing in a regional settlement is correlated with the population of regional settlements and the inverse square of the settlement's distance from the metropolis. Population growth as a result of metro-bound commuting may be increasing expenditure and employment in regional settlements, but the results of the research indicate that there is not redistribution of higher-value knowledge-based employment. Therefore, this research does not find evidence that metro-bound commuting facilitates functional polycentrism. Such travel is more appropriately described as population-based polycentrism or the suburbanisation of regional settlements. Given this finding, the current government focus on population distribution facilitated by large scale infrastructure projects is questioned. The central conclusion of the thesis is that governments should assess policy and infrastructure proposals on their capacity to redistribute economic functions and employment opportunities, not population