We use Google Maps to collect real-time travel time information for nearly one billion generated trips in about 1,200 large world cities. Following Akbar et al. (2021), we develop speed indices by city that can be estimated from trip-level data and be decomposed into a congestion factor and an index of speed in absence of traffic. Using a rich set of city and country level variables, we uncover the main correlates of city speed and congestion in terms of population, city structure, geography, road network, economic development, and institutional features. Next, we extend our approach to define an accessibility index by destination type which can be decomposed into our speed index, a distance to the nearest destination by type index, and a variety index. Using establishment data collected from Google Places, we implement this approach for a number of destination types and provide some early descriptive facts.
Gilles Durantonisprofessor of real estate and holds the Dean’s Chair in Real Estate. He joined Wharton in 2012 after holding academic positions at the University of Toronto and the London School of Economics. A graduate from HEC Paris and Sorbonne University, he obtained his PhD in economics from the London School of Economics and the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris. His current work focuses land use and urban growth in emerging cities, the measurement of urban transportation and congestion, land development, and the geography of innovation and technology. He is also interested in the evaluation of the effects of infrastructure and place-based policies. He serves as a co-editor for the Journal of Urban Economics and sits on the editorial board of several other academic journals. He is a fellow of the National Bureau of Economic Research and of the Centre for Economic Policy Research. He regularly works as consultant on regional and urban policy for national governments and international organisations. He was also the 2011 president of the North American Regional Science Association, the 2016-2017 president of the Urban Economics Association, and the 2013-2019 the chair of the Wharton Real Estate Department.
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