The dynamics of access : a study of social inclusion, job opportunities, travel mobilities and developing the Gateshead MetroCentre

• Main Author: Rivas Perez, Francisco Martin
• Published: University of Leeds 2013
• Subjects: 388.4
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.599553

The aim of this research is to further the understanding of the relationships between household travel mobility and the processes of social exclusion. Using mixed-methods, the research looks at the travel activities and employment geographies of different socio-economics across the Tyne & Wear metropolitan area. It considers the actual and perceived mobilities of households in a specific area (West Gateshead, encompassing the wider MetroCentre area and some of Britain's most deprived communities), and the relationships between mobility, access to employment, education/training, and other basic services. The employment destination patterns of different socio-economic groups across a large urban area were analysed using kernel probability analysis of the Tyne & Wear Household Travel Survey, in combination with key socioeconomic data-sets. This analysis shows that different communities have markedly different employment geographies. This is related to availability of suitable work that can be accessed within the often-narrow time-geographies imposed by inadequate transport systems and the complexities of household scheduling. Using focus groups, whose participants were drawn from deprived neighbourhoods •of Tyne & Wear, and included both those in work, jobseekers, and full-time carers, the issues of barriers to mobility and the resilience of household travel mobility in the face of changing circumstance were explored. Using time-geographic analysis of household trips and service provision, combined with activity-travel diaries and qualitative interviews, this study highlights (a) household strategies within a time-geographic framework, for obtaining a sufficient level of mobility to access employment and services across an urban area, and (b) how households maintain resilience and respond in the face of major changes, such as having children, and economic crises, such as the loss of a job or a loss of resources required for travel.