Subway expansion and the rise in the spatial disparity of consumer amenities

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate how subway expansions have impacted the geographic concentration of consumer amenities within four global cities, namely Santiago, Singapore, Barcelona and São Paulo. Thereby, we delve into which neighborhoods benefit more and which suffer deficits from improved subway connectivity and their associated impacts upon local vibrancy. We found that originally vibrant communities in terms of consumer amenities benefit more than non-vibrant ones in terms of the attraction of new restaurants and shops. Further, we look into which accessibility destinations promoted by the subway expansion (e.g., accessibility to high-skill jobs or to affluents neighborhoods) result in the most significant effects. We show evidence that agglomeration economies are a relevant location driver mechanism that mediates the impact of accessibility improvements on the attraction of consumption activities. We also found to be evident that purchasing power of both workers and households matters as a market-access amenities location driver. Intra-city spatial concentration of economic activities, including consumption affairs, has been recognized as a longstanding urban phenomenon with implications on different dimensions within the urban planning domain. We discuss how much subway expansion increase or decrease such a spatial disparity of urban opportunities within the urban space.