The Impact of Airports on US Urban Employment Distribution

Abstract

The influence of airports on the distribution of employment within fifty-one large US metropolitan areas is measured in the context of three important elements of urban spatial structure: centers, corridors, and clusters. Analysis of tract-level census data for 2000 using spatial regression models for each metropolitan area revealed that central cities have a varying, but generally strong, effect on the distribution of metropolitan employment, as do highways and employment subcenters; favored quarters had less certain impacts while the airport influence was weaker and more variable among regions. Regressing metropolitan airport-anchored distance-decay parameters on a series of regional explanatory factors suggests that airport cities develop primarily as cities expand outward rather than as a direct consequence of air transportation. These results inform plans relying upon airports to help shape and perhaps accelerate regional development.