Gravity vs radiation model: two approaches on commuting in Greece

Abstract

Commuting defined as the daily travelling for employment purposes- has gradually intensified in the last decades. At the heart of today’s working life, the multivariate commuting is of great importance for every sustainable policy. Thus, the objective of this paper is to examine, using the latest available census data, commuting flows in Greece at relatively fine unit scales (Local Administrative Unit - LAU1). For this purpose, the gravity model is used, as is the radiation model, which recently was introduced in the approach of transportation fluxes. Both the methodology and the results are compared. Consequently, this paper aims not only to approach the commuting patterns in Greece, but also to conclude whether the radiation model is a good alternative to the use of gravity models in spatial interaction analysis. © 2017.