Changing home-to-work travel in England and Wales

In the UK, functional city-regions are usually determined by travel-to-work areas (TTWAs): discrete bounded areas defining a threshold for self-containment for commuters. Since their establishment in the 1980s, changes in commutes have pushed TTWA boundaries further. This can only be observed through historic comparison at the sub-regional level, which has not been possible due to data limitations. By systematically analysing commuting patterns between 1981 and 2001 using geographically consistent data, this paper looks at longer-term socio-economic dynamics affecting the structure of city-regions. The findings are critical in anticipation of updated TTWAs based on 2011 Census commuting data.