5 Translating Employment Concentration into Land Consumption: some results from the Chicago Metropolitan Area

Journal of Urban Planning and Development, 2015

Land-use structure variables, derived from landscape ecology theory, are introduced into traditional employment density models based on the distance to the major Central Business District in the monocentric framework or on distances to multiple employment centers in the polycentric framework. Four groups of land use indices related to size, complexity, diversity, and neighborhood, are computed for the Columbus metropolitan area. Models are first constructed for each of its seven counties separately, and then combined to form a complete metropolitan-level model. The Spatial Error Model (SEM) is used to account for the spatial autocorrelation that characterizes the data. The results show that distances to both Columbus and county CBDs are strong employment density determinants, but also that land-use structure, measured by the Dominance Index and the Mean Edge Contrast Index, is an important employment density factor. The predictive capability of the model is validated by estimating it over six counties, and using it to estimate the density pattern in the omitted county.

Urban Studies, 2004

The article analyses the link between autarchic land-use policies adopted by local governments in California and the substantial redistribution of its population during the decade of the 1990s. Changes in population growth by racial and ethnic group in California cities are related to measures of the extent to which locally adopted policy favours expansion of the single-family housing stock. Controlling for the initial conditions of housing and labour markets by relying upon census measures for 1990, the paper accounts for the potential endogeneity of contemporaneous land-use policies by relying upon exogenous measures of the 'exclusivity' and 'pro-growth' propensities of the local public sector recorded by a state-wide survey in the early 1990s.

1979

This paper is an empirical study of land values in Champaign-Urbana. Land value depends on lot size relative to the typical lot size in the neighborhood. This result supports the notion that minimum lot area zoning can have externality effects. The supply effects of existing zoning appear to dominate any externality effects which might exist. This suggests that the zoning in Champaign-Urbana does more harm than good. Several location variables are introduced to deal with the fact that the value of land would vary across land use zones in the absence of governmental zoning. NEIGHBORHOOD, ZONING, AND THE VALUE OF URBAN LAND I.

Law and Contemporary Problems, 1979

The Annals of Regional Science, 2013

Land use regulations often delay residential development processes and increase the development costs, although they contribute to addressing market failures and realizing a well-organized urban spatial structure. Raising barriers to development can prevent households from moving in response to either job relocations or job growth at certain locations in a timely manner through restrictions in the local housing supply. This situation may also result in longer commuting distances, times, and costs, as well as greater spatial mismatches. To examine the possible adverse effects of the regulations, this study analyzes how intraregional population-employment interactions vary across metropolitan areas that substantially differ in the restrictiveness of land use regulations. First, an exploratory correlation analysis of 40 large U.S. metropolitan areas reveals that highly regulated regions, particularly those with lengthy approval processes, are likely to show a lower correlation between census tract-level population and employment changes and an increase in mean commuting time between 1990 and 2000. Secondly, regression analysis suggests that the lower correlation in highly regulated metropolitan areas could be attributed to the limited responsiveness of the population to employment redistribution within the regions.

Geographical Analysis, 2007

This article adapts a regional adjustment model to estimate and project the spatial outcome of population and employment growth in U.S. metropolitan areas. The three-equation multiplicative model of population change, employment change, and land absorption is estimated using three-stage least squares to account for endogeneity among the dependent variables and contemporaneous correlation across the system of equations. In addition to the core model, alternative specifications are estimated, imposing the initial conditions of size, land availability, and economic structure. The stability of the solutions is then examined using reduced-form equations estimated via the seemingly unrelated regression equations approach. The results reveal substantive evidence that population and employment growth are jointly determined, of how the two affect the outcome of land development, and, perhaps most importantly, stable and fractionally reasonable estimates at projected equilibrium points. Lastly, the adapted model controlling for the initial condition of land availability is used to project patterns of land consumption at equilibrium in 50 rapid-growth metropolitan areas.

National Tax Journal, 2015

Differences in property tax rates and sales tax distribution formulas can give suburban municipalities strong incentives to attract commercial and industrial firms to their jurisdictions. If these land uses generate negative externalities for local residents, suburban governments may form concentrations of non-residential land use at the borders of neighboring suburbs. We test this prediction using land use data for every parcel in the Cook County suburbs of Chicago. After controlling for proximity to major streets and rail lines, both commercial and industrial parcels are significantly more likely to be located near municipal boundaries. Low-priced industrial properties are also significantly more likely to be located near municipal boundaries than in the interior of a suburb.

Journal of Urban Economics, 1979

Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 1976

Cities are shaped by numerous decisions, yet urban spatial structure and locational decision-making are seldom linked. A principal components typology of land use change isolates four major processes of change: suburbanization, core area renewal, infrastructure growth, and specialized nucleations. These components identify the key decisions and decision agents involved. Comparative analyses of land use change and of site selection by individual developers in Toronto suggest a three-level hierarchy of locational determinants relating to the choice of site, to both site and context, and to factors apparent only at an aggregate level. HERE have been repeated calls for new T paradigms in urban geographical research.l One such paradigm argues that explanations of urban spatial patterns must deal with