Book Review: Environment, Place, and Growth: City Characteristics and Location Choice, Boris A. Portnov (Ed.), Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, (The Lypiatts, 15 Lansdown Road, Cheltenham, Glos GL50 2JA, UK) (2025), p. 220, 10.4337/9781035331888, Edward Elgar Publishing, Inc. (William Pratt House, 9 Dewey Court, Northampton, Massachusetts 01060, USA) Print ISBN: 9781035331871 eISBN: 9781035331888

Qiang Cao

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Qiang Cao. Book Review: Environment, Place, and Growth: City Characteristics and Location Choice, Boris A. Portnov (Ed.), Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, (The Lypiatts, 15 Lansdown Road, Cheltenham, Glos GL50 2JA, UK) (2025), p. 220, 10.4337/9781035331888, Edward Elgar Publishing, Inc. (William Pratt House, 9 Dewey Court, Northampton, Massachusetts 01060, USA) Print ISBN: 9781035331871 eISBN: 9781035331888. Papers in Regional Science, 2025, 104 (6), pp.100124. 10.1016/j.pirs.2025.100124. hal-05488552

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## Book Review

**Environment, Place, and Growth: City Characteristics and Location Choice, Boris A. Portnov (Ed.).** Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, (The Lypiatts, 15 Lansdown Road, Cheltenham, Glos GL50 2JA, UK) (2025). p. 220 pp10.4337/9781035331888 Edward Elgar Publishing, Inc. (William Pratt House, 9 Dewey Court, Northampton, Massachusetts 01060, USA) Print ISBN: 9781035331871 eISBN: 9781035331888

In his book, *Environment, Place, and Growth. City Characteristics and Location Choice*, Boris A. Portnov argues that urban success rests on a blend of essential attributes that work only in combination; the absence of one key attribute can undermine the whole. To capture this dynamic, he introduces the 'locational package' (LP) concept (*Portnov and Schwartz, 2009*), shifting the focus from a simple geographic point to a set of inherent, interconnected characteristics. Drawing on Maslow's hierarchy of needs (*Maslow, 1954*), he constructs a synthetic framework that integrates the LP concept and locational indices within three key analytical dimensions—effect modification, temporality, and relativity—to understand how various attributes shape urban development. Using this framework, he conducts empirical studies across vast temporal and spatial scales, ranging from antiquity to modern-day and from the macro level of global cities down to the micro level of a single parking spot. This review argues that this framework clarifies how locational factors play roles in urban development, yet it needs a sharper treatment of identification and measurement.

The book comprises twelve chapters. Chapters 1–4 define the LP concept, link it to a staged view of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, and present families of indices. Chapters 5–11 test the framework by examining a range of cases, including ancient city survival, global urban growth in 2000 and 2020, wealth concentration, long-run mobility in Switzerland, and inner-city mobility decisions. The final chapter reframes the entire argument using a ‘cake recipe’ metaphor. This review does not follow the book’s chapter structure but instead examines its content through three thematic lenses: (1) theory, concepts, and indices; (2) methods and data; (3) practical implications, followed by a summary.

## Theory, concepts, and indices

Cities are complex socio-natural systems, shaped by historical and geographical contexts. This book makes a meaningful contribution to urban development studies by presenting an integrated framework, grounded in Maslow's hierarchy of needs, to identify and analyze how locational factors impact urban development. Its contributions are threefold. First, its theoretical basis extends traditional understandings of location by connecting them to human needs, offering a timely reminder that cities exist primarily to meet those needs—an important

counterpoint to the dominance of aggregate economic indicators. Second, its LP concept moves beyond a static, independent view of locational advantage and disadvantage to focus on their dynamic assembly and temporal relativity. Third, its index system provides a unifying lens that enables comparative analysis spanning long historical periods and multiple spatial scales.

Despite these strengths, the framework's reliance on natural factors and Maslow's hierarchy of needs creates limitations. On the one hand, its framework places limited emphasis on social factors, which are equally integral to urban dynamics. For example, it ignores the impact of technological and trade factors on urban development. On the other hand, grounding the framework in Maslow's hierarchy of needs offers insight into how individual needs drive urban development; however, it overlooks the distinct needs of social groups, such as those for order, culture, and institutions, which play a critical role in shaping urban form and function. As the book revisits a theoretical approach that has become less central in contemporary economics and geography, its argument could have been further strengthened by a more explicit discussion of why this framework remains compelling today. Besides, the proposed index system is applied across a range of cases, from the evolution of global cities to individual location decisions. Yet, it does not fully account for how such indicators operate across different spatial and temporal scales. As a result, this framework leans toward a naturalistic and individual-centered explanation of urban development, potentially downplaying the influence of constructed environments and collective human agency.

## Methods and data

Regarding the book's methods and data, several interpretive issues warrant clarification, even as it introduces a diverse set of empirical applications. First, the relationship between place advantages and urban growth is inherently reciprocal. Although the book undertakes causal analysis across its empirical chapters, it does not consistently disentangle cause from effect, leaving questions of endogeneity unresolved. Second, the use of artificial light at night (ALAN) data as a proxy for wealth and activity is innovative but presents limitations, such as saturation in urban cores, policy-driven variation in lighting, and cross-country calibration challenges. These issues are not sufficiently addressed, which may affect the robustness of the findings. Third, questions of transferability remain. Several findings draw on European and Swiss data, where institutional baselines are relatively high and stable. It remains unclear how the LP framework would perform in contexts characterized by weak institutions, informal urbanization, or energy scarcity.

<footnote n="1">¹ https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4495-3105.</footnote>
## Practical implications

Beyond its theoretical and empirical contributions, the LP framework offers practical value for research, planning, and policy. For researchers, a reproducible LP index with transparent weighting and a validation protocol over time would enhance methodological rigor. For planners, this framework could inform zoning and phasing strategies that prioritize the protection of high-LP corridors, especially under conditions of land scarcity. For policymakers, it suggests investment rules that weigh LP gains against displacement risks. For instance, in metropolitan fringes facing rising housing demand, the LP perspective would support early investments in transit and green-blue infrastructure—interventions that enhance access and environmental comfort without immediately escalating land prices, thereby deferring displacement pressures.

In summary, this book offers a clear and ambitious synthesis across theory, concept, indices, data, and scale. The LP framework effectively illustrates how locational attributes play roles in urban development, though its explanatory power would be strengthened by greater integration of social factors. The empirical chapters provide broad evidence, yet they would benefit from stronger identification and a fuller treatment of measurement limitations. The book will serve graduate students, practitioners, and scholars who need a single entry point into the landscape of location factors. The book is also intended for ordinary

people. For them, I would suggest taking this book along on a bus tour of the city: Boris A. Portnov's text reveals the city's recipe, while the passing view reveals urban complexity.

## CRediT authorship contribution statement

Qiang Cao: Writing – review & editing, Writing – original draft.

## Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

## References

* Maslow, A.H., 1954. Motivation and Personality. Harper & Row Publishers Inc.
Portnov, B.A., Schwartz, M., 2009. On the importance of the 'location package' for urban growth. Urban Stud. 46, 1665–1679. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098009105504.

Qiang Cao¹

UMR Sadapt, INRAE, AgroParisTech, Université Paris-Saclay, France
E-mail address: qiang.cao@agroparistech.fr.