Understanding urban sub-centers with heterogeneity in agglomeration economies-Where do emerging commercial establishments locate?
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Publication Date
2019-03Journal Title
Cities
ISSN
0264-2751
Publisher
Elsevier Ltd.
Volume
86
Pages
25-36
Type
Article
This Version
AM
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Yang, T., Pan, H., Hewings, G., & Jin, Y. (2019). Understanding urban sub-centers with heterogeneity in agglomeration economies-Where do emerging commercial establishments locate?. Cities, 86 25-36. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2018.12.015
Abstract
This paper investigates the formation of employment sub-centers from a new perspective of heterogeneity in agglomeration economies. Using highly granular commercial and residential land-use data (2001–2011) in Chicago, we measure how the locations of jobs, population, quality-of-life amenities, and transportation networks shape specific and heterogenous sub-centers. First, the results suggest that the CBD as it was traditionally defined is no longer the primary source of agglomeration externalities for the new economic sectors; sub-centers with sector-specific positive agglomeration externalities have stronger correlations with new commercial establishments. Secondly, residents appear to give the highest weight to quality-of-life amenities in choosing where to live. Both trends imply dis-incentives for CBD agglomeration. These findings connect the heterogeneous production theories with land use planning and urban design, through new empirical insights into how urban sub-centers grow. Furthermore, we put forward a method for forecasting of future sub-center growth through measuring changes in the probability of commercial development, and discuss its practical implications for planning and design in Chicago.
Keywords
Employment sub-centers, Land-use, CBD, Agglomeration, Heterogeneity
Sponsorship
Technology Strategy Board (920035)
EPSRC (EP/N010221/1)
EPSRC (EP/N021614/1)
Identifiers
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2018.12.015
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/292497
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Licence URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/