Restructuring in functional economic areas: A GIS based study of rural linkages to urban areas in selected southern regions

This study examines different factors affecting rural development in selected southern regions. It applies geographical information systems, spatial statistics, and spatial econometric techniques to identify the spatial linkages between urban core, urban fringe and rural hinterland and to evaluate the spatial economic impact of local amenities on rural development.;Most attribute data come from 1980 and 1990 county and Census data. GIS spatial referenced data are converted from 1992 TIGER/LINES file. The employment data are provided by 1989 Dun and Bradstreet files for firms with greater than 25 employees. GIS techniques are applied to build a common 1980/1990 geography.;A Regional Analysis System was developed for Functional Economic Area analysis and spatial statistical analysis. Eighty-five counties from selected southern regions are grouped into 10 exclusive FEAs using commuter flow data. A classification of urban core, urban fringe and rural hinterland is defined for census tracts within each FEA according to the urban boundaries and travel time. The spatial statistics are applied to identify the local growth patterns. Some generalized forms of spatial statistics are developed. By including the population size and growth in the urban cores and fringes within each FEA as interaction variables, the extended Boarnet model is applied to test for the spatial linkages between urban cores/fringes and hinterlands. The Moran I test is applied to identify the potential spatial structure of the models. Factor analysis is applied in selecting "representative" variables from a large set of local amenities. TSLS methods are applied in estimating extended Boarnet models.;Core-hinterland relationships were categorized as four spread-backwash typologies. Findings indicate that core-hinterland relationships varied significantly among FEAs.;The results from the extended Boarnet models suggest that people tend to live near locations where the new jobs are being created rather than where the jobs were located at the beginning of the period. The results also suggest that local amenities impose stronger impacts on residential locational decision than on firm's decision in rural areas. A mix of spillover and back-wash effects is detected from urban core and fringe areas to their rural hinterlands. Rural area population employment grew faster than average in an FEA with lower population growth in the urban core and larger population in the fringe.