Most research interested in understanding the causal impacts of transit investments on property prices approach the topic through the lens of proximity. However, recent research highlights the networked nature of accessibility impacts. This presents challenges in causal research, particularly in mapping accessibility impacts, defining treatment and control groups, and estimating property price effects. Using the Evergreen Extension in Metro Vancouver, this research examines how proximity to new stations and changes in accessibility over time are capitalized into property prices, disentangling their distinct and combined effects. As commonly applied in the literature, the proximity-based measures identify treated properties based on their distance to the nearest station. For the accessibility-based approach, we measure changes in gravity-based scores over time to capture regional accessibility effects and treatment intensities along an ordered continuum, identifying areas experiencing accessibility gains, losses or stability. Results show that the spatial distribution of accessibility-based effects extend beyond conventionally-defined proximity catchments, suggesting an accessibility-based approach can better capture potential treatment effects associated with network spillovers. Next, fixed-effects models, using repeat sales, are then estimated to causally identify price premiums associated with both the proximity-based and accessibility-based measures. First, we find that, in line with urban economic theory, 1) proximity to new stations is positively valued, 2) increases in network access and regional connectivity to employment yield larger positive price effects, and 3) there is a combined premium placed on both proximity-based and accessibility-based benefits. Second, while proximity effects align with expectations, where treatment properties closer to the new stations command higher price premiums than those farther away, accessibility-based price effects do not. Specifically, higher treatment levels in the accessibility-based models do not consistently yield the highest premiums. This prompts an important perceptual question on whether homebuyers view proximity as a more intuitive signal of accessibility than broader regional network connectivity, which may be more intangible. We contribute knowledge through a dynamic approach that captures accessibility impacts for causal estimations, moving beyond the limitations of proximity-based measures in transit impact research.

Compared to urban settings, rural areas are characterised by high rates of car ownership and few alternative transport options. This can lead to transport poverty, especially among older adults without car access. Community transport, not-for-profit and primarily volunteer-run local transport schemes, helps to address this rural transport poverty in the UK. This paper focuses on the emergence and evolution of these schemes, presenting a critical analysis that traces the researchers’ discomfort that arose during a study on community transport in Oxfordshire. Unpacking this discomfort draws attention to two societal processes that have shaped the emergence and evolution of community transport: neoliberalism and automobility. Results indicate how community transport can be rolled out in response to the neoliberal roll-back of the state, in this case cuts to bus subsidies and the National Health Service (NHS). However, community transport is often itself rolled-back by the state as part of further rounds of financial cuts, prompting providers to improvise ways to continue what they understand to be an essential service. Further, community transport emerges as a car-based solution in increasingly car-dependent contexts and, as such, re-enforces and further normalizes automobility. Although community transport schemes address rural transport poverty, they do not at present tackle the source of this challenge: the interconnected processes of neoliberalism and automobility. The paper concludes with a discussion of the current role of the community sector as a sticking plaster solution to rural transport poverty, as well as its potential role in contributing to the dismantling of neoliberalism and automobility.

Older adults’ living environments are instrumental in making walking part of their daily lives, as we strive to promote healthy aging. Objective measures, such as WalkScore®, and subjective measures of walkability provide means to grasp the factors that enable or hinder frequent and enjoyable walking. However, there is limited consensus on what factors contribute to mismatch between perceptions of walkability and objective built environment measures, particularly among older adults. We interviewed fifty-eight older adults (65 +) from six Canadian cities to uncover the relationship between their perceived neighbourhood walkability and objective built environment measures. We segmented our interviewee sample into four categories based on their residential WalkScore® and perceptions of neighbourhood walkability. Our thematic analysis provides insight into strategies older adults use to respond to barriers to walking in their environment and walking facilitators they experience in their neighbourhoods. The findings can be of interest to practitioners and decision-makers as they seek to improve walking environments for aging populations, ultimately contributing to older adults’ long-term health and well-being.

This paper describes {ActiveCA}, an open data product with Canadian time use data. {ActiveCA} is an R data package that contains analysis-ready data related to active travel spanning almost 40 years, extracted from Cycles 2 (1986), 7 (1992), 12 (1998), 19 (2005), 24 (2010), 29 (2015), and 34 (2022) of the Time Use Survey (TUS) from the General Social Survey (GSS). Active travel episodes are characterized by mode, with walking being part of every cycle and bicycling starting in 1992. The attributes of active trips are the types of locations of origins and destinations, the duration of trips, and episode weights for expanding the trips to population-wide estimates. Based on the year of the survey, a variety of locations are coded. In earlier cycles, these include home, work or school, and other’s home, whereas in later cycles these are augmented with locations such as grocery stores, restaurants, outdoor destinations, and others. The geographical resolution includes the province and whether the episode was in an urban or rural setting.

By examining how different demographics engage with online services, researchers and policymakers can better understand patterns and disparities in their access, usability, and engagement. This study explores the factors driving the frequent usage of online services, particularly online grocery shopping, online restaurant delivery, and e-shopping. By utilizing a representative sample of Scarborough, Ontario, Canada, collected in 2022, this study followed a Generalized Joint Regression Modelling approach by simultaneously modelling three online service usage behaviours. The findings suggested that millennials are highly likely to be frequent users of all forms of online shopping, while baby boomers and the greatest generation are less likely to engage in these activities. Households with children demonstrate a strong inclination towards online service usage, highlighting household's need for convenience and time savings. Access to personal vehicles influences online service usage behaviour. The study also found that car users are more likely to prefer in-person grocery shopping. Health-related challenges, such as mobility difficulties, correlate with increased reliance on online services. Furthermore, neighbourhood satisfaction and the perceived ease of accessing services positively impact online service usage. The findings further implied a nuanced relationship between online service usage and its potential impact on equity-deserving groups and sustainable transportation behaviour of Scarborough residents. Although findings suggested that online service usage is prevalent among several sociodemographic groups, it may exacerbate disparities for lower-income and transport-disadvantaged populations due to costs and digital exclusion. This scenario highlights the need for balanced urban planning and policy interventions to support equity and community ties in the digital age.

This work uses a national index to examine differences in transport poverty between men and women in Canada. We calculated for each metropolitan area the average indices of social disadvantage, transport disadvantage, and transport poverty for men and women. Applying a paired t-test, we observe men have higher inaccessibility, women have higher marginalization, and overall a higher index of transport poverty. Using two metropolitan areas as case studies, we performed a local cluster analysis (LISA) to identify areas with spatial concentrations of transport poverty by gender.

The “15-Minute City” concept has been embraced by global leaders to promote human-scale neighbourhoods with transport and land-use designs that support short trips to daily necessities. This paper bridges the 15-Minute City to “Mobility of Care”, a framework that foregrounds travel to care destinations, travel done predominately by women. This focus contrasts the more commonly studied travel to employment and leisure destinations. While the 15-Minute City concept is flexible enough to consider all destination types, gendered examinations are relatively lacking in the literature, and little research to date has focused explicitly on care destinations. This gap is addressed in this paper by identifying which areas in the city of Hamilton, Canada are ‘caring 15-minute neighbourhoods’. To do so, a database of care destinations was compiled to estimate the number (using the cumulative opportunity accessibility measure) and diversity of mix (using an entropy measure) of care destinations within a 15-minute walk from residential parcels. Using data-driven machine learning techniques (Self-Organizing Maps and Decision Trees), neighbourhoods were classified into ‘caring 15-minute neighbourhood’ typologies that are examined across residential socio-economic profiles. Our results suggest that the majority of caring 15-minute neighbourhoods are in the urban core, where more lower-income households currently reside. In contrast, areas that lack caring 15-minute neighbourhoods are in higher-income peripheral areas. Areas that make good candidates for urban policy intervention are identified and the implications of enhancing 15-minute walkable caring access are discussed in relation to equtiy and gender mainstreaming in transportation planning and limitations of this work.

Neighbourhood satisfaction is a key topic in urban planning due to its impact on well-being and inequality among urban dwellers. While determinants of neighbourhood satisfaction have been studied extensively, less is known about individual characteristics such as travel behaviour, political values, transport barriers, and aspirations, beyond traditional sociodemographics. Additionally, spatial modelling of neighbourhood satisfaction remains underexplored. This study utilizes the Scarborough Survey, a multidimensional dataset from Scarborough, Ontario, to investigate how travel behaviour, political values, transport barriers, and aspirations influence neighbourhood satisfaction. A spatial ordinal probit model was used, accounting for sociodemographics, subjective neighbourhood characteristics, and objective neighbourhood characteristics. Findings reveal significant impacts of these individual characteristics on neighbourhood satisfaction, with sociodemographics' effects mediated through these variables. Interestingly, no positive spatial autocorrelation was found for neighbourhood satisfaction after controlling for other factors, suggesting limited social bonds or interactions among neighbours in suburban areas. The results highlight opportunities for community events or local organizations to rebuild these connections and enhance satisfaction in suburban neighbourhoods. This work provides new insights into neighbourhood satisfaction and offers pathways for improving the living conditions of vulnerable suburban communities.

Accessibility, understood as how easily individuals can reach a desired destination, can be measured in multiple ways. Perceived accessible opportunities, which include those seen as viable alternatives and as feasible given personal and scheduling constraints, may vary from an analyst’s assessment when calculated accessibility measures are used. Our study explores how perceived accessibility is shaped by the interaction between sociodemographic attributes, latent perceptions of the built environment, and traditional accessibility indicators. Moreover, we investigate how accessibility indicators influence perceived accessibility for various services and examine the effects of distance thresholds to determine how strongly the concept of the neighbourhood influences residents’ perceptions of accessibility. To do so, we use a representative sample of 354 individuals living in a residential neighbourhood in Santiago de Chile in 2019. In addition to mobility diaries and sociodemographic characterisation, the respondents indicated whether eight different services were accessible in the neighbourhood and, if so, whether they made use of them. A hybrid discrete choice model was estimated to understand the interplay between different factors and their role in the perception of accessibility for each service. Our results indicate that even though each is important on its own, there is no evidence suggesting that one accessibility indicator is superior to another when studying accessibility perception. In addition, we find both direct and indirect effects of gender and age, which occur via latent perceptions of the use of public space and infrastructure quality. Finally, we found evidence supporting the idea that the neighbourhood corresponds to the immediate surroundings of the residential household and that perceived accessibility is significantly different depending on the type of service studied. This study contributes to a deeper understanding of the underlying dimensions affecting perceived accessibility in the Global South, providing important evidence for decision makers on the complexities that must be considered when designing effective and inclusive proximity-based policies.

We explore how perceived access to destinations supports broader human capabilities such as play, health, joy, and wonder. Drawing on Nussbaum’s (2011) framework, we surveyed over 1,400 residents of Melbourne, Australia, asking whether their neighbourhoods support their capabilities “to do or be” in 26 aspects of life. We then applied a structural equation model to examine the interrelationships between demographics, perceived access, observed access (walkability and transit), activity participation, and life satisfaction. The models show that being male, owning a vehicle, and having more friends nearby are associated with higher perceived access, while financial difficulties and disability predict lower perceived access. Although walkability and transit access have a small negative direct association with life satisfaction, they exert positive indirect and total effects through increased perceived access and activity participation. These results underscore that accessibility—particularly as it is perceived—plays a meaningful role in individual well-being.