Deconstruction of Commuters’ Activity Space and Social Exclusion under Anchor Point Theory: A Case Study of Kunming,China

Abstract

Activity space directly reflects residents’ utilization of urban space and their quality of life. However, the existing activity space measurement methods do not consider the differences in individual participation in different activities. To solve this problem, this study proposes a new method based on anchor theory to describe the activity space of urban commuters. First, the activity space is defined as the collection of space-time resources available in personal daily travel activities. According to the activity type, the activity space is divided into restricted space and free space. Second, using the survey data collected from Kunming city, China, three activity space patterns of commuters are identified, namely the restrict-oriented, free-oriented, and balance-oriented. Third, the influencing factors of different activity space patterns of commuters, including socio-demographics and built environment, are investigated using a multinomial logistic model. The results show that the method of deconstructing activity space can better describe the behavior patterns of urban residents. Besides, this study identifies the commuters who have small activity space but are not socially excluded and those who have large activity space but are at risk of social exclusion. This finding complements the previous identification of social exclusion. The research results can help policymakers develop suitable policies to avoid the mismatch between urban facilities and residents’ needs.