Rural residential choices: unravelling the nexus of accessibility and preferences

As rural residents increasingly migrate to urban areas to improve living conditions, employment, and education, closely examining the relationship between residential choices and accessibility becomes crucial. This study employs a Stated Preference Survey (SP) with an orthogonal experimental design and uses the Multinomial Logit Model (MNL) to explore the preferences of rural residents for accessibility in the built environment when choosing new residences, including potential disparities between residents on the urban fringe and those in suburban areas. The findings reveal a strong inclination among residents for proximity to essential services such as education, transportation, healthcare, markets, recreation, and amenities. Preferred residential locations include within a 2-kilometre radius of schools, 300 metres from bus stops, 500 metres from medical facilities, 2 kilometres from markets, between 500 metres and 1 kilometre from leisure facilities, and within 1 kilometre of supermarkets. Additionally, commuting time preferences vary, with rural residents favoring a 15-minute commute, peri-urban residents preferring 5 minutes, and distant suburban residents showing no clear preference for commute times ranging from 5 to 15 minutes. These insights carry significant implications for urban and rural planning and development.