Spatial-temporal Characteristics and Factors Influencing Commuting Activities of Middle-class Residents in Guangzhou City, China

The middle class in metropolitan Chinese cities has become an important social group. With the rapid development of urbanization and constant advancement of suburbanization, the middle class has increasingly come to influence city traffic. Research into middle-class commuting activities thus has practical significance for improving traffic congestion and reducing the commuting burden in metropolitan cities. Based on a dataset formed by 816 completed surveys, this paper analyzes the commuting mode, time and distance of middle-class residents in Guangzhou City using the descriptive statistical method. The results indicate that private cars are the main commuting mode, followed by public transport. Meanwhile, middle-class residents mainly undertake medium-short time and medium-short distance commuting. The study subsequently uses multilevel logistic regression and multiple linear regression models to analyze the factors that influence commuting mode choice, time and distance. The gender, age, number of family cars, housing source and jobs-housing balance are the most important factors influencing commuting mode choice; housing, population density, jobs-housing balance and commuting mode significantly affect commuting time; and transport accessibility, jobs-housing balance and commuting mode are the notable factors affecting commuting distance. Finally, this paper analyzes what is affecting the commuting activities of middle-class residents and determines the differences in commuting activity characteristics and influence factors between middle-class and ordinary residents. Policy suggestions to improve urban planning and urban management are also proposed.

Characteristics of atmospheric particles and heavy metals in winter in Chang-Zhu-Tan city clusters, China

To understand the pollution characteristics of atmospheric particles and heavy metals in winter in Chang-Zhu-Tan city clusters, China, total suspended particulate （TSP） and PMI0 samples were collected in cities of Changsha, Zhuzhou and Xiangtan from December 2011 to January 2012, and heavy metals of Cd, Pb, Cr, and As were analyzed. It shows that the average TSP concentration in Changsha, Zhuzhou and Xiangtan were （183 ± 73）, （201± 84） and （190 ±66） μg/m3 respectively, and the average PM10 were （171 ± 82）, （178 ± 65） and （179 ± 55） μg/m3 respectively. The lowest TSP and PM10 concentrations occurred at the background Shaping site of Changsha. The average ratio of p（PM10）/p（TSP） was 91.9%, ranging from 81.3% to 98.9%. Concerning heavy metals, in TSP samples, the concentration of Cr, As, Cd and Pb were 28.8-56.5, 18.1-76.3, 3.9-26.1 and 148.0-460.9 ng/m3, respectively, while in PMI0 samples, were 16.4--42.1, 15.5-67.9, 3.3-22.2 and 127.9-389.3 ng/m3, respectively. The enrichment factor of Cd was the highest, followed by Pb and As, while that of Cr was the lowest.