Doctoral Dissertation Research: Urban-Social Sustainability and Access to Employment: A Mixed-Methods Multi-Scale Approach

工作可及性和空间错配是研究大都市区弱势人口就业障碍的两个主要文献。 虽然人们对中心城市和郊区之间的就业机会差异了解很多，但对微观地理和个人规模层面的障碍了解相对较少。随着美国大都市地区继续经历快速的社会经济结构变化，需要进行新的精细研究，因为传统的方法和城市概念化不再足以解开弱势群体每天必须谈判的当前居住-交通-工作场所关系。 本研究探讨了基于地点和个人偶然性背景的工作可及性的复杂理解。 此外，将在城市社会可持续性概念化的基础上，探讨消除就业障碍与个人生计建设之间的实质性联系。 为了研究这些问题，本项目将采用混合方法。第一阶段将使用空间统计方法和美国人口普查运输二级数据来观察工作机会的地理模式。 在第二阶段，通过半结构化访谈收集的主要数据将通过捕获当地知识和替代空间表示来深入了解就业机会的社会空间过程。 这些数据将通过地理信息科学（GIS）进行整合，并使用扎根理论、统计模型和地理可视化技术在个人、微观地理和大都市范围内进行分析。 利用哥伦布号（俄亥俄州，美国）大都市区作为研究地点，研究者希望展示不同性质的地理和个人就业障碍的工作贫困人口。在这个研究项目中使用的细尺度数据将有助于发展更复杂的理解地理通道，并揭示详细的社会空间模式和大都市区工作可达性的过程，这对于理解城市结构的变化如何影响就业机会，特别是在工作穷人中的就业机会尤为重要。 该研究项目还将解决研究过程中的权力，知识和代表性问题;有助于替代和混合方法方法的优点的方法论和认识论辩论;并有助于生计建设和城市社会可持续性的讨论。 更广泛地说，这项研究将为克服基于无障碍的不平等的本地化政策建议提供实质性知识，并将通过其作为研究信息提供者的作用，为边缘化和代表性不足的社会经济群体的个人提供发言权。

Job accessibility and spatial mismatch are two major research literatures that have sought to understand employment barriers among disadvantaged populations in metropolitan areas. While much is known about job access differentiation between central-cities and suburbs, relatively little is understood about barriers at micro-geographic and individual scale levels. As U.S. metropolitan areas continue to undergo rapid socio-economic structure changes, new fine-scaled research is needed as the traditional methods and urban conceptualizations are no longer sufficient to untangle the current residence-transportation-workplace nexus that disadvantaged populations must negotiate on a daily basis. This research investigates complex understandings of job accessibility based upon the contexts of place and individual contingencies. Further, building upon conceptualizations of urban-social sustainability, the substantive connections between access to employment barriers and individual livelihood construction will be explored. To examine these issues, this project will employ a mixed-method approach. Phase 1 will use spatial statistical methods with U.S. Census transportation secondary data to observe geographic patterns of job access. In phase 2, primary data collected through semi-structured interviews will elicit insight to socio-spatial processes of job access by capturing local knowledge and alternative spatial representations. Together the data will be integrated through Geographic Information Science (GIS) and analyzed using grounded theory, statistical models, and geovisualization technologies at individual, microgeographic, and metropolitan scales. Using the Columbus (Ohio, USA) metropolitan area as the research site, the investigators expect to demonstrate the varying nature of geographical and individual barriers to employment among the working poor population.The fine-scale data utilized in this research project will help develop more complex understandings of geographical access and reveal detailed socio-spatial patterns and processes of metropolitan-area job accessibility, which are particularly important for understanding how changes in urban structure affect job accessibility, especially among the working poor. This research project also will address issues of power, knowledge, and representation in the research process; contribute to methodological and epistemological debates on the merits of alternative and mixed-methods approaches; and contribute to discourse on livelihood construction and urban-social sustainability. More broadly, this research will provide substantive knowledge for localized policy recommendations on overcoming accessibility based inequalities, and will give voice to individuals from marginalized and under-represented socio-economic groups through their role as research informants.