The Geography of Travel to Work in England and Wales: Extracts from the 2011 Census

From a policy point of view, the question of transport connectivity has recently risen up the policy agenda in the UK, and particularly in the North of England where the government are currently seeking to boost economic growth through their ‘Northern Powerhouse’ initiative. Transport is central to this plan. However, existing patterns of connectivity across England and Wales are not always well understood in the policy domain, so this paper attempts to help fill a gap by taking a geovisualisation-based approach to the analysis of 2.4 million individual journey to work flows across England and Wales. The paper builds upon previous research in the field of spatial interaction by exploring patterns associated with different modes of transport. The analysis highlights London’s dominance as a rail commuter destination, relative to major cities in the North of England, in addition to the growth of cycling as a mode of travel to work. The question of ‘error’ in the dataset is then explored, followed by a discussion of possible explanations. The paper ends by reflecting on three key findings and by highlighting opportunities for future research in this field.