Relationship of Residential Location Choice with Commute Travels and Socioeconomics in the Small Towns of South Asia: The Case of Hafizabad, Pakistan

Houshmand Masoumi, Atif Bilal Aslam, Irfan Ahmad Rana, Muhammad Ahmad and Nida Naeem
Additional contact information
Houshmand Masoumi: Center for Technology and Society, Technische Universität Berlin, 10623 Berlin, Germany
Atif Bilal Aslam: Department of City and Regional Planning, University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore 54890, Pakistan
Irfan Ahmad Rana: Department of Urban and Regional Planning, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, National University of Sciences and Technology, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan
Muhammad Ahmad: Department of City and Regional Planning, University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore 54890, Pakistan
Nida Naeem: Department of City and Regional Planning, University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore 54890, Pakistan

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 6, 1-15

Abstract: The existing literature of emerging markets fails to provide evidence to clarify if people choose their residential location based on commuting to work or other socioeconomic or household factors. The present paper seeks to provide such evidence in South Asia using the case study of a small city in Pakistan. This exploratory study was facilitated by primary data collected from 365 adults in Hafizabad, Pakistan, using face-to-face interviews in 2018. Two research questions were answered: (1) with what socioeconomic or mobility-related variables are the residential self-selections correlated? (2) how strong is the possible association of commuting to work to residential location choices compared to other factors, including social, economic, and family-related issues? The results of Chi-square tests and Proportional Reduction in Error analyses show that the three variables of neighborhood place, gender, and housing tenure type are associated with residential location choices. These findings are partly in line with studies on high-income countries, but gender and housing tenure are more specific to developing countries. Moreover, results of a Binary Logistic model show that marital status and house ownership of other household members define whether people choose their living place based on commuting rather than other socioeconomic and household issues. The finding of the latter variable contrasts with behaviors in high-income countries, whereas the former variable has some similarities. These findings highlight some contextual differences between house location selection in South Asia and other regions.

Keywords: residential location choice; urban transportation planning; commuting; housing; Pakistan (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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