Kane, Kevin, John R. Hipp, and Jae Hong Kim. (2017). Analyzing accessibility using parcel data: Is there still an access-space trade-off in Long Beach, California? The Professional Geographer 69:3, 486-503.
Abstract: “This article analyzes the impact of changing housing and neighborhood characteristics on the accessibility of neighborhood businesses using Long Beach, California as a case study. While advocates of smart growth and New Urbanism encourage land use mixing, aggregate-level analysis can be too coarse to pick up on fine-grained aspects of urban streetscapes. This study uses assessor parcel records and a point-based business establishment dataset to analyze citywide patterns of accessibility from individual dwelling units to 31 types of neighborhood businesses including grocery stores, service shops, drug stores, doctor’s offices, and banks. Regression results compare parcel-level and neighborhood-level drivers of accessibility between 2006 and 2015 to gauge the aggregated effect of recent economic, demographic, and built environment changes on this aspect of urban spatial structure. Larger homes in older, multi-unit buildings and higher-income neighborhoods show substantial increases in accessibility to most establishment types, suggesting a trend toward both greater accessibility and larger dwelling units – despite the traditional tradeoff between access and space. While gradual increases in home and business density increased overall accessibility over this period, weaker neighborhoodlevel results indicate this trend is less pronounced in high-poverty and nonwhite areas.”