Abstract
The aim of this paper is to provide input to a discussion on the potential for reduced commuting with retained accessibility to work, when the development of information technology sets new conditions, and provides new opportunities, for the location of workplaces. The potential impacts on commuting of a node-structured Stockholm region is calculated. The result of the calculation is presented as a comparison between the node-structured city and a reference scenario for the year 2010. The reference scenario has been designed by the planning authorities in the region. The calculation started with the selection of a number of nodes. The exact number of nodes was not defined in advance. Rather it was a result of requirements for reasonable public transport and on reasonable population densities. This resulted in approximately 100 nodes. These were then treated as attractors of workplaces in the calculation. Some of the commuting trips in the reference scenario were rerouted according to specified assumptions. One assumption was that the desire to cut a trip would increase with distance. Another was that the desire to start working in a node would increase with decreasing distance to the node. A third assumption was that the propensity to work from home would increase with the distance to the workplace in the reference scenario. The calculation resulted in a scenario with considerably shorter commuting trips, with a consequent reduction in commuting volumes, and a subsequent increase in walking and cycling, compared with the reference scenario.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.