Internal disparity: analyzing the association between travel-time-to-center and population density in Baltimore, Maryland

Abstract

The accomplished goal of this study was to further understand if the presence of automobile mass-transit routes have modified the distribution of the Baltimore City population as high density urban areas have grown based upon statistical analysis of population and network datasets. An evaluation of the results supports that Baltimore City's population density is clustered, and that this clustering is, in part, associated with the presence of mass-transit routes, and their ability to lower commute times. This was accomplished through a multi-faceted method, based on extensive literature and allowed for by the use of Geographic Information Science, ultimately allowing for a direct comparison between TTC and population density within the study area. This research is novel and necessary, because of its use of GIS network analysis to understand transportation times, a process which is newly branching.