The influencing factors of a polycentric employment system on jobs-housing matching-a case study of Hangzhou, China

Abstract

This paper discusses the relationship between the polycentric spatial structure and jobs-housing matching and its influencing factors in the urbanized area of Hangzhou City in China. First, 42 employment centers are identified while using the method of the threshold value of employment density and employment to residence ratio based on the places of employment and residence that were identified from cellphone signaling data. This study found that Hangzhou have remarkable features of a polycentric system. Second, we use the jobs-housing matching rate index to measure the jobs-housing matching characteristics of employment centers. We found that the polycentric structure does not guarantee jobs-housing matching of all centers, although nearly half of the employment centers had good jobs-housing matching and 14.29% do not achieve jobs-housing matching, which indicates the uncertainty of "co-location hypothesis" in China. Employment centers of different levels, industry types, and locations also display certain regularity in their jobs-housing matching level. Third, by using correlation analysis and stepwise multiple regression analysis, we found that, besides the polycentric factor, the spatial and industrial factors also exert a certain effect on jobs-housing matching, reasonable control of the employment center size, employment to resident ratio, and industrial diversity are the determinants that affect the jobs-housing matching level.