Abstract How transport and employment agglomeration enhance urban productivity is a fundamental problem for many cities. Internationally, there has been a great deal of interest in the effect of employment concentration on urban productivity, but very few studies have examined its effect on worker commuting burdens and transport costs. This paper aims to advance international knowledge by measuring job growth and costs of labour market access between 2011 and 2016 for employment centres (EC) in Melbourne, Australia. A comprehensive transport cost model is used that incorporates detailed transport costs and travel times associated with transport modes. By tracking job growth and changes in worker commuting burdens, this paper distinguishes ‘high-cost’ ECs from ‘low-cost’ ECs, for their respective labour pools, and identifies which ECs offer opportunities for better transport outcomes. The results show that well-planned public transport (PT) systems and residential development, coupled with walking and cycle networks, are important features of ECs experiencing lower commuting burdens. Drawing upon the conclusions, this research recommends more effective approaches by governments to foster effective investments in urban infrastructure and discusses how broader policy and investment decisions can align to optimise employment agglomeration and minimise negative transport impacts.

中文翻译：

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墨尔本就业中心的就业增长、可达性和不断变化的通勤负担

摘要 交通和就业集聚如何提升城市生产力是许多城市面临的根本问题。在国际上，人们对就业集中度对城市生产力的影响产生了极大的兴趣，但很少有研究考察其对工人通勤负担和交通成本的影响。本文旨在通过衡量 2011 年至 2016 年澳大利亚墨尔本就业中心 (EC) 的就业增长和劳动力市场准入成本来提高国际知识水平。使用综合运输成本模型，其中包含与运输方式相关的详细运输成本和旅行时间。通过跟踪工作增长和工人通勤负担的变化，本文将“高成本”EC 与“低成本”EC 区分开来，针对各自的劳动力池，并确定哪些 EC 为更好的交通结果提供了机会。结果表明，规划良好的公共交通 (PT) 系统和住宅开发，加上步行和自行车网络，是 EC 通勤负担较低的重要特征。根据这些结论，本研究建议政府采取更有效的方法来促进对城市基础设施的有效投资，并讨论更广泛的政策和投资决策如何协调以优化就业集聚并最大限度地减少对交通的负面影响。