Changing employment subcenters and opportunity in the Pittsburgh metropolitan area

ABSTRACT

Urban structure reflects land use processes and affects the livability of metropolitan areas. Structure and process can be illuminated by analysis of employment subcenters whose delineation often utilizes density and threshold criteria modified by local knowledge. This study addresses two questions: (1) are employment subcenters thus defined differently from the metropolitan area as a whole and (2) are employment subcenters different from each other? Employment density thresholds and totals are analyzed at census block group level of geography. Location quotients for subcenters and subcenter components (census block groups) are analyzed using Mann-Whitney rank order tests. The results indicate that the answer is “yes” to both questions. Affirmation of the first supports the credibility of density/threshold delineations, and of the second indicates an under-studied aspect of urban structure. Subcenter differences may contribute to problems of worker accessibility to employment opportunities. The results suggest that unstable urban structure may be an impediment to socioeconomic mobility and that, on a theoretical level, it may be desirable to revisit the question of whether influence fields are discrete or probabilistic.

Acknowledgments

The author thanks the sabbatical committee at Indiana University of Pennsylvania for supporting this research. Thanks also to the journal editors and three referees whose comments led to considerable improvements in the narrative.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Donald W. Buckwalter

Donald W. Buckwalter teaches economic geography, transportation geography, urban transportation, and other courses. Professor Buckwalter’s publications appear in Applied Geography, Growth and Change, Eurasian Geography and Economics, Journal of Transport Geography, Middle States Geographer, Professional Geographer, and Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie. They include case studies from central Europe (Bulgaria and Hungary) and the United States. Professor Buckwalter is reviews editor for The Pennsylvania Geographer, is a member of the Association of American Geographers and the Urban Affairs Association, and is certified as a Geographic Information Systems Professional (2013) by the GIS Certification Institute. His research interests include the analysis of networks in regional development, land use, urban transportation, and economic geography.