ANNALES DE DÉMOGRAPHIE HISTORIQUE 1999, 1 p. 127 à 149

MOVING THROUGH THE CITY: THE CHANGING IMPACT OF THE

JOURNEY TO WORK ON INTRA-URBAN MOBILITY

IN XXlh CENTURY BRITAIN

by Colin G. POOLEY and Jean TURNBULL

Introduction

In the xixth century the journey to work was one of the main constraints on intra-urban residential mobility: a short journey to work was paramount in cities where most people walked to work. This reflected the high cost and limited extent of public transport, and the impact of casual employment where close proximity to a workplace may hâve given privileged access to a job (Dyos, 1953; 1955; Dyos and Aldcroft, 1974). Studies of xixth century intra-urban residential mobility hâve demonstrated the way in which most people moved frequently between similar properties within quite a small area (Dennis, 1977; Pooley, 1979; Green, 1995), and the few detailed studies of the journey to work in xix"1 century cities emphasise both the short distance travelled and the significance of the linkage between home and workplace (Vance, 1966, 1967; Warnes, 1970; Dennis, 1984; Green, 1988; Barke, 1991; Pooley and Turnbull, 1997). Mean journey to work distances in Britain, calculated from a large data set of residential and employment historiés, remained low at between two and three kilomètres throughout the xixth century (Pooley and Turnbull, 1998). Only the rien, and some skilled workers on regular incomes, could begin to suburbanize, and such people mostly lived within 5 km of their place of work.

In gênerai, it is well known that there hâve been significant changes in the journey to work, and in the linkages between home and workplace, in the xxlh century. New transport technologies, changing employment prac- tices, higher and more regular incomes and changing aspirations, amongst other factors, hâve encouraged people to move further from traditional city centre workplaces. At the same time the location of employment has also changed, often leading to complex cross-city commuting patterns (Liepmann, 1944; Westergaard, 1957; Lawton, 1963, 1968; Daniels, 1970, 1980; Warnes, 1972, 1975; Davis and Musson, 1978; Daniels and Warnes, 1983). Opportunities for longer and faster journeys to work hâve meant