IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jlands/v13y2024i8p1299-d1457788.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Impact of COVID-19 on the Jobs–Housing Dynamic Balance: Empirical Evidence from Wuhan between 2019, 2021, 2023

Author

Listed:
  • Lei Wu

    (School of Urban Design, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Muxi Yuan

    (School of Urban Design, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Fangjie Liu

    (School of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Wuhan Institute of Technology, Wuhan 430205, China)

  • Qiang Niu

    (School of Urban Design, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China)

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic, a significant public health emergency, has underscored the criticality of jobs–housing proximity. Static statistical research, however, struggles to uncover the mechanisms underlying jobs–housing balance, providing limited guidance for urban management. This paper adopts the concept of jobs–housing dynamic balance, analyzing the trends in jobs–housing balance in the metropolitan development area of Wuhan in the early and later period of the pandemic from the perspective of individual jobs–housing migration. Using mobile phone signaling data, we identified a stable population of 161,698 residents in June 2019, June 2021, and June 2023, and calculated jobs–housing synchronization and migration impact indices across seven regions. The study finds the following: (1) there is a pronounced misalignment of jobs–housing in the new cities of Wuhan’s suburbs, with clear asynchronous in-migration and out-migration; (2) COVID-19 initially led to a unidirectional exodus of the local population for job purposes, significantly contributing to regional jobs–housing imbalance, followed by a partial rebound in the later stages; and (3) the stability of jobs–housing balance in suburban new cities lacking policy support and comprehensive urban functions is worse, primarily due to insufficient employment resilience and the out-migration of the employed population. This paper puts forward a set of recommendations for the sustainable development of suburban new cities. It offers insights into the theoretical advancement of jobs–housing balance and the dynamic, refined transformation of urban studies, enhancing urban managers’ understanding of human–place interactions and new city construction.

Suggested Citation

  • Lei Wu & Muxi Yuan & Fangjie Liu & Qiang Niu, 2024. "The Impact of COVID-19 on the Jobs–Housing Dynamic Balance: Empirical Evidence from Wuhan between 2019, 2021, 2023," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-19, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:13:y:2024:i:8:p:1299-:d:1457788
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/13/8/1299/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/13/8/1299/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bumjoon Kang & Jaewoong Won & Eun Jung Kim, 2021. "COVID-19 Impact on Residential Preferences in the Early-Stage Outbreak in South Korea," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-14, October.
    2. Mark Horner & Alan Murray, 2003. "A Multi-objective Approach to Improving Regional Jobs-Housing Balance," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(2), pages 135-146.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Miyu Komaki & Haruka Kato & Daisuke Matsushita, 2023. "Why Did Urban Exodus Occur during the COVID-19 Pandemic from the Perspective of Residential Preference of Each Type of Household? Case of Japanese Metropolitan Areas," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-19, February.
    2. Kang-Rae Ma & David Banister, 2006. "Extended Excess Commuting: A Measure of the Jobs-Housing Imbalance in Seoul," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 43(11), pages 2099-2113, October.
    3. Niedzielski, Michael A. & Horner, Mark W. & Xiao, Ningchuan, 2013. "Analyzing scale independence in jobs-housing and commute efficiency metrics," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 129-143.
    4. Li, Tiebei & Dodson, Jago & Sipe, Neil, 2015. "Differentiating metropolitan transport disadvantage by mode: Household expenditure on private vehicle fuel and public transport fares in Brisbane, Australia," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 16-25.
    5. Mark W. Horner, 2008. "`Optimal' Accessibility Landscapes? Development of a New Methodology for Simulating and Assessing Jobs—Housing Relationships in Urban Regions," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 45(8), pages 1583-1602, July.
    6. Bwire, Hannibal & Zengo, Emil, 2020. "Comparison of efficiency between public and private transport modes using excess commuting: An experience in Dar es Salaam," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    7. Reza Mortaheb & Piotr Jankowski & Alan Murray & Marcos Bastian, 2024. "Form-Based Code Revisited: Leveraging Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Spatial Optimization to Chart Commuting Efficiency Landscapes under Alternative City Planning Frameworks," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-31, August.
    8. Bradley Bereitschaft, 2023. "The changing ethno-racial profile of ‘very walkable’ urban neighbourhoods in the US (2010–2020): Are minorities under-represented?," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 60(4), pages 638-654, March.
    9. Wagner, Gary A. & Rork, Jonathan C., 2023. "Does state tax reciprocity affect interstate commuting? Evidence from a natural experiment," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    10. Keone Kelobonye & Feng Mao & Jianhong (Cecilia) Xia & Mohammad Shahidul Hasan Swapan & Gary McCarney, 2019. "The Impact of Employment Self-Sufficiency Measures on Commuting Time: Case Study of Perth, Australia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-21, March.
    11. Katarzyna Kocur-Bera, 2022. "Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic Era on Residential Property Features: Pilot Studies in Poland," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-19, May.
    12. Fitwi Wolday & Lars Böcker, 2023. "Exploring changes in residential preference during COVID-19: Implications to contemporary urban planning," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 50(5), pages 1280-1297, June.
    13. Li, Tiebei & Corcoran, Jonathan & Burke, Matthew, 2012. "Disaggregate GIS modelling to track spatial change: exploring a decade of commuting in South East Queensland, Australia," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 306-314.
    14. Jiangping, Zhou & Chun, Zhang & Xiaojian, Chen & Wei, Huang & Peng, Yu, 2014. "Has the legacy of Danwei persisted in transformations? the jobs-housing balance and commuting efficiency in Xi’an," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 64-76.
    15. Saadi, Ismaïl & Boussauw, Kobe & Teller, Jacques & Cools, Mario, 2016. "Trends in regional jobs-housing proximity based on the minimum commute: The case of Belgium," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 171-183.
    16. Honghu Sun & Feng Zhen & Yupei Jiang, 2020. "Study on the Characteristics of Urban Residents’ Commuting Behavior and Influencing Factors from the Perspective of Resilience Theory: Theoretical Construction and Empirical Analysis from Nanjing, Chi," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(5), pages 1-17, February.
    17. Ioana-Ancuta Iancu & Patrick Hendrick & Micu DDM Dan Doru & Adrian Cote, 2023. "Pandemic-Induced Shifts in Climate Change Perception and Energy Consumption Behaviors: A Cross-Country Analysis of Belgium, Italy, Romania, and Sweden," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/377982, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    18. Michael A. Niedzielski, 2006. "A Spatially Disaggregated Approach to Commuting Efficiency," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 43(13), pages 2485-2502, December.
    19. Kim, Kyusik & Horner, Mark W., 2021. "Examining the impacts of the Great Recession on the commuting dynamics and jobs-housing balance of public and private sector workers," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    20. Jiangping Zhou & Ying Long, 2016. "Losers and Pareto optimality in optimising commuting patterns," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 53(12), pages 2511-2529, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:13:y:2024:i:8:p:1299-:d:1457788. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.