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Transportation barriers to Syrian newcomer participation and settlement in Durham Region

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  • Farber, Steven
  • Mifsud, Anika
  • Allen, Jeff
  • Widener, Michael J.
  • Newbold, K. Bruce
  • Moniruzzaman, Md

Abstract

This paper reports on the effects of inaccessibility on Syrian refugees in Durham Region, a municipality abutting the City of Toronto. The transport and social exclusion framework is applied to determine whether transport poverty leads to inaccessibility, and how this impacts participation in daily activities and the wellbeing of recently landed refugees. A mixed methodological approach consisting of focus groups, survey data collection, and accessibility analysis provides a thorough and valid depiction of the topics investigated. The findings clearly depict evidence of subjective inaccessibility and its negative impact on participation in social and discretionary activities. At the same time, inaccessibility was not determined to be effecting participation rates in many mandatory activities such as daily English language classes or childcare-related tasks. Most of the respondents overwhelmingly felt that their transportation situation was having a strong negative impact on several dimensions of wellbeing, including loneliness and sadness. Despite the strong subjective and emotional responses to perceived inaccessibility, GIS-based accessibility scores show that the survey respondents had higher levels of objectively-measured access to destinations when compared to the broader population of Durham Region, indicating the importance of qualitative assessments of perceived access. Overall, the research confirms the validity of the transport and social exclusion framework and its usefulness in understanding participation and settlement outcomes among refugee migrants within a suburban, North American context.

Suggested Citation

  • Farber, Steven & Mifsud, Anika & Allen, Jeff & Widener, Michael J. & Newbold, K. Bruce & Moniruzzaman, Md, 2018. "Transportation barriers to Syrian newcomer participation and settlement in Durham Region," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 181-192.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jotrge:v:68:y:2018:i:c:p:181-192
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2018.03.014
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Karst Geurs & Cathy Macharis, 2019. "The future of European communication and transportation research: a research agenda," REGION, European Regional Science Association, vol. 6, pages 1-21.
    3. Allen, Jeff & Farber, Steven, 2020. "Planning transport for social inclusion: An accessibility-activity participation approach," SocArXiv ap7wh, Center for Open Science.
    4. Yixue Zhang & Steven Farber & Mischa Young, 2022. "Eliminating barriers to nighttime activity participation: the case of on-demand transit in Belleville, Canada," Transportation, Springer, vol. 49(5), pages 1385-1408, October.
    5. Allen, Jeff & Farber, Steven & Greaves, Stephen & Clifton, Geoffrey & Wu, Hao & Sarkar, Somwrita & Levinson, David M., 2021. "Immigrant settlement patterns, transit accessibility, and transit use," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    6. Allen, Jeff & Farber, Steven, 2019. "Sizing up transport poverty: A national scale accounting of low-income households suffering from inaccessibility in Canada, and what to do about it," SocArXiv ua2gj, Center for Open Science.
    7. Linovski, Orly & Manaugh, Kevin & Baker, Dwayne Marshall, 2022. "The route not taken: Equity and transparency in unfunded transit proposals," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 77-84.
    8. Matthew Palm & Jeff Allen & Yixue Zhang & Ignacio Tiznado-Aitken & Brice Batomen & Steven Farber & Michael Widener, 2024. "Facing the future of transit ridership: shifting attitudes towards public transit and auto ownership among transit riders during COVID-19," Transportation, Springer, vol. 51(2), pages 645-671, April.
    9. Allen, Jeff & Farber, Steven, 2019. "Sizing up transport poverty: A national scale accounting of low-income households suffering from inaccessibility in Canada, and what to do about it," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 214-223.
    10. Rishworth, Andrea & Cao, Tiffany & Niraula, Ashika & Wilson, Kathi, 2023. "Navigating the quality-of-life impacts of a chronic inflammatory disease (CID) among South Asian children and parents," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 326(C).
    11. Shirgaokar, Manish & Nobler, Erin, 2021. "Differences in daily trips between immigrants and US-born individuals: Implications for social integration," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 103-114.
    12. Smith, Chandler & Myadar, Orhon & Iroz-Elardo, Nicole & Ingram, Maia & Adkins, Arlie, 2022. "Making of home: Transportation mobility and well-being among Tucson refugees," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    13. Nikitas, Alexandros & Wang, Judith Y.T. & Knamiller, Cathy, 2019. "Exploring parental perceptions about school travel and walking school buses: A thematic analysis approach," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 468-487.
    14. Awaworyi Churchill, Sefa & Smyth, Russell, 2019. "Transport poverty and subjective wellbeing," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 40-54.

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