Study title

Data collection resulting from the compilation of existing data sources to assess the link between local housing markets and education markets through an analysis of children's travel to school.. This research was funded by the ESRC Secondary Data Analysis Initiative (SDAI). The data show the existence of key socioeconomic determinants of school travel distance and mode, whereby the socioeconomic background of the child plays an important role in explaining how children get to school as well as which schools they attend. Children from more deprived backgrounds face non-trivial transport hurdles if they wish to access 'better' schools, in the form of significantly increased travel distances and lesser potential to use active forms of travel. How children travel to school is a major public policy concern, reflecting socioeconomic differences among the population. Policies enhancing school choice may contradict public health efforts to promote walking and cycling. Equally, the built form, urban structure and the local housing markets may determine school travel behaviour, encouraging excess commuting with implications for environmental sustainability and public transport provision. This study will exploit secondary data from Ordnance Survey, HM Land Registry, the Pupil Census, and British Household Panel Survey to examine how the built environment and residential housing markets relate to families’ choices about schools and school travel in a selected case study locality (Sheffield). Spatial analysis techniques will be used to construct spatial measures of the built form (eg density, accessibility and pedestrian ‘permeability’), to classified neighbourhoods by housing market characteristics, and to model the pattern of pupils’ home-school journeys. The generalisability of the findings using BHPS data will be examined.The research will produce outputs tailored to national and local policymakers and practitioners: Local education planners will understand better...