Mobility, Accessibility and Social Cohesion
An inverse relation can be postulated between the social cohesion of an urban area and the level of social and economic disparities within its neighbourhoods. These disparities are often related to employment and household income, which stem from changes in Canada’s labour market over the last 30 years. In this paper, we examine the influence of geographical factors, such as daily mobility of people and job accessibility, on levels of social and economic disparities in the Quebec urban area. We begin by using a typology of individual access to automobiles (forms of “restricted” automobile access) in households that own at least one vehicle (motorized households) to outline the ability to reach job sites. Secondly, we draft a gravity-type index of accessibility to jobs, which is used to identify residential areas that had poor access to employment in 1977 and 1996. We conclude by testing the relationship between real access to automobiles, accessibility to employment and an indicator of social cohesion, the employment rate. Data are based on OD surveys conducted by the Réseau de transport de la Capitale (RTC).