Environment and Planning A 2012, volume 44, pages 2295 – 2297
doi:10.1068/a44627
Featured graphic. Spatial inequality and workplace
accessibility: the case of a major hospital in Göteborg,
Sweden
This map visualizes the interrelation between car/public transport workplace accessibility
differences and place of residence.(1) The case is based on a hospital with 4500 employees
and is the city’s single largest workplace with a majority of female workers. The analysis
shows that 53% of the low-income female workers at the hospital can save between 30 and 60
minutes daily if they commute by car instead of public transport, compared with 46% of the
high-income men. In addition, only 33% of the low-income women can save up to 30 minutes
per day by using car instead of public transport, compared with 42% of the high-income
men. The pattern of accessibility difference in the map indicates that low-income groups in
general may be overrepresented in the semiperiphery of the city, reflecting a gentrification
process of the inner-city areas, which often mismatches with the location of low-incomedominated workplaces. Thus, affordability of housing seems to be an important determinant
for the place of residence choice, since most areas with the least difference between car and
public transport accessibility are located in the city centre where property prices are high.
Furthermore, the map shows a concentration of low-income female employees close to the
hospital, with the number of commuters reduced drastically with increasing distance. This
indicates that proximity to work is still an important determinant for the place of residence
choice. Overall, there is a relatively small area in which employees at the hospital may live
without having to spend significantly longer time commuting by public transport compared
with car. For groups with limited mobility resources (ie, without a car), this creates time–
spatial restrictions on the home–workplace accessibility dynamics. One conclusion is that
planners and policy makers need to be aware of the relative importance of public transport for
different groups depending on factors such as gender, income, and place of work.
The analysis illustrates how accessibility and travel opportunities are unevenly
distributed among different groups in society, as well as across space. The map exemplifies
how infrastructure, gender, and income are important factors to explain this pattern (Church
et al, 2000). Looking at spatial commuting patterns, the gendered labour-market structure
provides an important component of analysis. The geography of workplaces is often spatially
uneven, with central areas of the city dominated by women’s places of work and industrial
and peripheral areas of the region dominated by male workplaces (Gil Solá, 2009).
Mapping and analysis use register data from Statistics Sweden with a 100 meter
geographical resolution, in this case aggregated to 500 meter cells. Accessibility calculations
are based on the Swedish National Road Database and public transportation travel time
data. For further description of the methodology see Elldér and Larsson (2011). The case
was selected to represent a typically female-dominated workplace. One further limitation is
made through the selection of a low-income group containing women with a yearly income
below the national average for women (203 900 SEK /year). On the basis of these criteria
we consider the selected group to be less likely to afford a car and hence more dependent on
public transport or walking/bicycling for their daily trip to work.
(1)
The area of analysis is limited to the Göteborg A-region. A-regions are defined on the basis of
population and business structure.
2296
E Elldér, A Gil Solá, A Larsson
Produced by Erik Elldér, Ana Gil Solá, Anders Larsson, Department of Human and
Economic Geography, University of Gothenburg; e-mail: [email protected],
[email protected], [email protected]
References
Church A, Frost M, Sullivan K, 2000, “Transport and social exclusion in London” Transport Policy
7 195–205
Elldér E, Larsson A, 2011, “Improving Regional Transport Accessibility Planning: a GIS-based
methodology based on micro-level register data”, paper presented at the Regional Studies
International Conference, Newcastle upon Tyne, http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7725404/RSA_paper_
final.pdf
Gil Solá A, 2009 Vägen till jobbet: Om kvinnors och mäns arbetsresor i förändring [The way to
work: on women’s and men’s changing work trips], licentiate thesis, Department of Human and
Economic Geography, University of Gothenburg
Sources: Time distance computations, see Elldér and Larsson (2011); Statistics Sweden
Software: ArcInfo 10, InDesign 6, TransCAD 5
Featured graphic
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Figure. [In colour online.] Low-paid female workers housing location, and differences in time
distance to work by car and public transport: the case of a major hospital, Göteborg, Sweden. Map
data: © Swedish mapping, cadastral and land registration authority (permission number 1.2011/0075)
[sources: Time distance computations (see Elldér and Larsson, 2011)].
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