Data-driven spatial modelling for sustainable mobility and workplace planning

DUT Project: Journey Option Estimator (JOE) – individual, organisational and infrastructural factors influencing commuting decisions (working title)

Background

Opportunities to reduce travel demand and peak-hour travel depend on working from home, flexible working hours and decentralised workplaces, since work organisation and workplace location shape the frequency, distance and timing of commuting. However, the feasibility and effects of these opportunities depend on individual circumstances, organisational requirements and infrastructural conditions, including care responsibilities, job characteristics, access to transport infrastructure and the availability of decentralised shared offices.

A better understanding of these interdependencies is needed to identify realistic combinations of working arrangements and assess their mobility impacts. In particular, workplaces closer to employees' homes, such as satellite offices or coworking spaces in suburban municipalities and secondary centres, could shorten journeys and improve access to work opportunities.

Research question

To what extent can coordinated changes in working arrangements, workplace locations and mobility provision – shaped by individual, organisational and infrastructural factors – reduce commuting demand and peak-hour travel, and contribute to more polycentric and locally accessible urban development?

Methodology

Phase 1 – Understanding: An empirical study of commuting decision-making in Switzerland, examining how individual, organisational and infrastructural factors shape the feasibility of different working arrangements. Individual factors include housing situation, care responsibilities and personal preferences; organisational factors cover workplace location, flexibility and working from home arrangements; infrastructural factors comprise transport connections, workplace accessibility and the availability of decentralised shared offices. The aim is to identify feasible combinations of working arrangements for different employee groups and organisations as the empirical basis for developing the JOE.

Phase 2 – Design: Development of a scenario-based tool that estimates how coordinated changes in working arrangements, mobility provision and the spatial distribution of workplaces affect the number and length of commuting trips and their distribution across times of day and days of the week, in order to avoid peak-hour travel and reduce overall commuting trips. The tool will allow individual employees and organisations to explore and combine three types of intervention: different levels of working from home, flexible working hours and coordinated attendance days; improved public transport connections, shared mobility and better conditions for walking and cycling; and the provision of shared offices and coworking spaces closer to employees' homes to support a more polycentric distribution of workplaces. (To be developed by consortium partners)

Phase 3 – Testing: The tool will be tested in a real-life case in Switzerland and in an EU country to assess its validity and transferability across different spatial conditions, work organisation and mobility provision. (To be developed by consortium partners)

Added value

The project connects individual commuting decisions with organisational practices and spatial planning. It will provide evidence on which combinations of working arrangements can realistically reduce commuting demand and peak-hour travel, and a decision-support tool to assess these options. By involving employers and public authorities, the project will also examine how workplaces closer to home can strengthen secondary centres and improve access to work in peripheral or disadvantaged areas – providing a concrete link to polycentric and 15-minute City development.