Employment Centers & Accessibility: Polycentric Agglomeration as an Economic Development Strategy

This project focused on identifying (ultimately 23) economic centers in the Baltimore-Washington region, then examining these centers first in their role as clusters of economic activity, then in their role as nodes in the state’s transportation system. At NCSG, we identified the commute sheds of each center for multiple modes of travel and travel times, and examined jobs–housing balance within these various commute sheds, finding that Maryland’s economic centers not only promote agglomerative economies and thus facilitate economic growth; they also generate a disproportionate number of trips and promote transit ridership.