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

工作可达性和空间失配是研究大都市弱势群体就业障碍的两大研究文献。虽然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层面的障碍了解相对较少。随着美国大都市地区持续经历快速的社会经济结构变化，新的精细尺度的研究是必要的，因为传统的方法和城市概念化不再足以理清当前的居住-交通-工作场所关系，弱势群体必须每天进行谈判。本研究探讨了基于地点和个人偶然性背景下对工作可及性的复杂理解。此外，在城市社会可持续性概念的基础上，将探讨获得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交通辅助数据来观察工作获取的地理模式。在第二阶段，通过半结构化访谈收集的原始数据将通过捕获当地知识和替代空间表征来洞察工作获取的社会空间过程。这些数据将通过地理信息科学（GIS）进行整合，并使用基础理论、统计模型和地理可视化技术在个人、微地理和大都市尺度上进行分析。调查人员以美国俄亥俄州哥伦布大都会区为研究地点，希望能证明贫困工作人口就业的地理和个人障碍的不同性质。本研究项目中使用的精细尺度数据将有助于开发对地理可达性的更复杂理解，并揭示大都市地区工作可达性的详细社会空间模式和过程，这对于理解城市结构变化如何影响工作可达性，特别是对工作贫困人口的影响尤为重要。该研究项目还将在研究过程中解决权力、知识和代表性问题；就替代方法和混合方法的优点进行方法论和认识论辩论；并对民生建设和城市社会可持续性的论述做出贡献。更广泛地说，这项研究将为克服基于无障碍的不平等的地方化政策建议提供实质性的知识，并将使边缘化和代表性不足的社会经济群体的个人通过其作为研究资料提供者的作用发表意见。

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.