Discovering the long-term effects of COVID-19 on jobs–housing relocation

Jobs–housing relocation plays a crucial role in urban spatial restructuring and development. As the COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically altered the form of human mobility, it is likely to have affected individual relocation patterns. This study uses mobile phone signalling data from 2018 to 2022 in Beijing to examine and compare intra–urban jobs–housing relocation behaviours among commuters before and after the pandemic. This study captures the pandemic’s long–term effects via an event study design. Despite prevalent negative impressions of the pandemic, this study found that it may have unexpected positive influences on our cities. The pandemic decelerated suburbanisation in young middle–income home relocators but encouraged suburbanisation in relatively older high–income home relocators, which may have helped to preserve inner city vitality. The pandemic accelerated the decentralisation of spatial distribution of employment, which may have helped to further break the monocentric city structure. The pandemic also accelerated inverse jobs–housing separation and improved jobs-housing balance, which may have made the city greener. It is suggested that policy makers seize this opportunity to guide cities towards structural improvement and sustainability.