The goal of my project is to draw on novel data sources to explore the extent to which differences in urban productivity can be explained by inequalities in housing and transport provision. There are significant inequalities in cities’ economic performance within the United Kingdom, and medium-sized cities appear to achieve lower productivity levels than continental European counterparts. A recently articulated hypothesis states that differences in public transport provision and compact urban structures play key parts in producing these unequal outcomes.

The project will collect new empirical evidence from publicly accessible time series data pertaining to local economies, novel data sources reflecting urban functional relationships and digital local planning data.