Analysing the changes of employment subcentres: A comparison study of Houston and Dallas

Abstract

There is only a sparse empirical literature that examines the emergence and growth of employment centres in large metropolitan areas. And only a few of the available studies analyse the determinants of the growth of centre(s) (and subcentres) over time. There are even fewer studies that compare different metropolitan regions in terms of how their employment centres grow or decay over several decades. This research aims to fill the gap by exploring changes in employment centres for two decades in two large US metropolitan areas of comparable size– Houston and Dallas. It employs 1990 and 2000 Census Transportation Planning Package (CTPP) data and American Community Survey (ACS) 2006–2010 5-year estimates to test factors suggested in the literature as possibly affecting the emergence and growth of employment centres. A revised two-stage minimum cut-off point approach is utilised to identify employment centres. We adopt an OLS model to find the driving forces for job changes in the employment centres of Houston and Dallas. A step-wise regression method is also adopted to find the major contributors to observed changes in job centres. Based on the results, it is possible to identify job changes and also a better understanding of the major factors associated with the changes. The findings are conceivably valuable for urban planners and policy makers to help them understand trends and allocate resources in an informed manner.