bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Graph Analysis of Metropolitan Residential Mobility: Methodology and Theoretical Implications
Authors: Kipnis Baruch A.
Published: October 2006

Three graph methods are employed to explore intra-metropolitan residential mobility, using metropolitan Haifa, Israel, as a case study. The graph methodologies are: 'dominant flows', 'significant flows' and 'flow priority'. In revealing the complex patterns of residential mobility, the graph analyses disclose a few hidden dimensions of the process, thus challenging some of the long-established notions of metropolitan formation theories. It is argued that future intra-urban mobility studies ought to re-examine their emerging research philosophies, methodologies and assumptions, and to refine their efforts to further explore the actual patterns of mobility which, in turn, might yield legitimate issues for future research.
Urban Renovation and the Impact Upon Low Income Families in Mexico City
Authors: Ward Peter , Melligan Stephen
Published: October 2006

Seventy-five shantytowns sites of 0.5 hectares and over located in and around the inner-area of Mexico City and selected for eradication in the early 1970s were revisited in 1982. Arguments that sites such as these became prime targets for redevelopment so that land could be freed for more commercial uses were not confirmed. The large majority of sites remain in residential land use and many have improved their physical fabric. Redevelopment, where it occurred, was usually instigated by public sector agencies and not by private commercial agents.
The Urban Dimension of European Return Migration: The Case of Bari, Southern Italy
Authors: King Russell , Strachan Alan , Mortimer Jill
Published: October 2006

Amongst a growing literature on intra-European return migration there has been little attention paid to urban settlements. This paper, based on 211 interviews of returned migrants in the south Italian city of Bari, aims to rectify this deficiency. A number of hypotheses concerning the distinctiveness of urban return are put forward and tested using official migration statistics and the questionnaire information, including data from a control sample of 415 rural returnees. As an example of an urban area in an emigration region, Bari is found to experience less emigration and more return migration, than its surrounding rural areas. Its returnees have been to a wider range of destination countries, and for longer periods, than the rural control group. They are also a more diverse group in their employment patterns, both before, during and after migration, and have different attitudes towards migration and return and different priorities and opportunities for the use of migrant savings.
Transport Costs and Urban Property Values in the 1970s
Authors: Evans Alan W. , Beed Clive
Published: October 2006

In this paper we use data on property values published annually for the 56 local government areas in the Melbourne metropolitan area to investigate the response of the property market to the oil price rises of the seventies. We show that property values appeared to have responded rapidly to the Australian petrol price increase of 1978, more accessible properties gaining in value relative to less accessible. The 1973 increase was not passed on to Australian consumers but the depression in manufacturing industry which started after it, also had an impact on the property market as values in areas where manufacturing workers lived fell in value relative to others.
An Empirical Analysis of the Commute to Work Patterns of Males and Females in Two-Earner Households
Authors: Singell Larry D. , Lillydahl Jane H.
Published: October 2006

The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the proposition that residential decisions are made with reference to the male head of household's job location, disadvantaging females in the labor market. A sample of approximately 50,000 adults in two-earner households in urban areas distributed across the United States is selected from public use microdata from the 1980 census and used to estimate a simultaneous model to explain commute to work behavior of men and women. The model is estimated separately for households that did and did not change residences in the past year. The impacts of the new residences on the commute times of both male and female workers, holding other variables constant, are compared. We conclude that residential selection does favor males relative to females, although there is evidence that this advantage is eliminated as the ratio of female to male earnings in the same household narrows.
Problems of Urban Decline and Growth in EEC Countries: Or Measuring Degrees of Elephantness
Authors: Cheshire Paul , Carbonaro Gianni , Hay Dennis
Published: October 2006

The purpose of this paper is to draw together several strands of literature concerned with the measurement of spatial economic and social differences and then suggest an alternative approach. We then apply that approach to classifying the problems of 103 of the largest metropolitan regions in the EEC countries. In the process, this allows us to conceptualise and attempt to quantify 'urban decline' in Europe: and simultaneously discover the extent to which urban problems in Europe are still associated with growth. Although it is hoped that the paper is infused with some theoretical and analytical insight, it is primarily empirical in scope. It draws on a small part of a much wider project. Some of the analytical support- particularly the arguments and evidence that support the use of Functional Urban Regions (FURs) as units of analysis, and all of the analytical and policy implications are reported on elsewhere.' 1
Socio-Tenurial Polarization in the United Kingdom, 1953-83: The Income Evidence
Authors: Bentham Graham
Published: October 2006

Family Expenditure Survey data show a widening gap between the incomes of households in different tenures during the period 1953 to 1983. In particular, a major gap has opened up between the two major tenures as the median income of owner occupied households (relative to the national average) has risen whereas that for local authority tenants has fallen sharply. Recent years have seen an acceleration of these trends and the local authority sector is now increasingly characterised by those on low incomes.
Geographical Variations in Transport Costs of Manufacturing Firms in Great Britain
Authors: Tyler P. , Kitson M.
Published: October 2006

The authors examine the extent to which there are geographical variations in transport costs for manufacturing firms in Great Britain. A new methodology is adopted which provides important new insights and which avoids many of the limitations of earlier work. The research presents a new index of transport accessibility for different types of industry by a thirty area disaggregation in Great Britain and translates the accessibility measure into an index of economic cost using up-to-date information provided by the Road Hauliers Association. Overall the research gives some support to the findings of earlier work on the size of variations in transport costs at the level of standard region in Great Britain, but finds significant sub-regional variation.
The 1988 Local Government Act and Compulsory Competitive Tendering
Authors: Parker David
Published: October 2006

The Conservative Government's 1988 Local Government Act extended compulsory tendering to a wide range of local authority services mainly supplied in the past by public departments in-house. This article reviews why the legislation was introduced; considers the evidence on efficiency savings from competitive tendering; details the services affected; and concludes by looking at the consequences for local government. Generally, there appears to be ample evidence to support the Government's claim that competitive tendering produces appreciable cost savings. Higher operating efficiency comes, however, from competition rather than 'privatisation'. The Act seems to be having a galvanising effect upon in-house suppliers who are reorganising and changing tneir 'culture' so as to compete effectively.
Evaluation of Policies and Measures to Create Local Employment
Authors: Storey D.J.
Published: October 2006

This paper argues that it is now appropriate and possible to undertake a thorough review of local economic initiatives (LEIs). The key theoretical point of the paper is to demonstrate that, from the viewpoint of economic efficiency, the marginal costs for each LEI instrument of achieving a policy objective should be equalised. The paper then takes this concept and examines it in the context of a hypothetical example of an LEI. It shows how the concept can be modified according to the particular objectives of those promoting the LEI.
Urban Economic Development in a Period of Local Initiative: Competition among Towns in Israel's Southern Coastal Plain
Authors: Razin Eran
Published: October 2006

A case-study of six towns in Israel's southern coastal plain demonstrates how a shift from nationally directed industrial dispersal efforts to one in which there is a greater role for locally initiated development strategies leads to the restructuring of the urban system. Semi-peripheral regions attain a growing advantage over the remote periphery, though within the semi-periphery intra-regional competition has intensified. Whereas previously there was a degree of homogeneity in the inter-urban patterning of economic investment, the correct identification of advantages at the micro-level has gained importance in promoting local economic development. These advantages can be utilised by effective local leadership for developing 'niches of success' in the face of general economic stagnation. The local strategy achieving the clearest impact on long-term development paths has been to exploit advantages associated with proximity to a metropolis, particularly by intervening in the housing market and by promoting economic integration with the metropolis.
The Impact of Net Migration on Neighbourhood Racial Composition
Authors: Ottensmann John R. , Good David H. , Gleeson Michael E.
Published: October 2006

While it has been commonly assumed that racially mixed neighbourhoods in US cities will become increasingly black, the results of this study question the validity of this assumption. In a series of simulations it is shown that in urban areas with no black inmigration the proportion of the black population does not increase in racially mixed neighbourhoods, unlike the case where there is black in migration to the urban area. With reductions in the rate of black inmigration to US cities, this study suggests policy implications which could help reduce the level of racial segregation in residential areas.
Book Review: A Theoretical Model for Local Roads Grants
Authors: Evans Andrew W.
Published: October 2006

This paper presents an area-wide, policy-level, economic model of road taxation and investment to provide an intellectual framework for considering the distribution of local roads grants. The model considers three different principles of grant distribution, including economic efficiency and fiscal equalisation, and demonstrates their consequences by calculating the resulting grant distributions for two imaginary countries with geographical characteristics similar to Australia and England. A conclusion is that the tension between equity and efficiency is more acute in countries like Australia, with large low-density areas, than in more densely populated countries.
The Perception of Spatial Inequalities in a Traditional Third World City
Authors: Chokor Boyowa Anthony
Published: October 2006

Spatial inequality is a persistent quality-of-life problem of Third World urbanisation. While structural and economic analysis is essential to an understanding of inequalities in Third World cities, another valid but neglected mode of analysis is the kind which can be derived from a study of the inhabitants' conceptions, attitudes and feelings. We have therefore developed a cognitive/behavioural approach as a basis for appraising human judgements of inequalities in a traditional Nigerian city. Triads of 10 surrogate photographed environmental stimuli of Ibadan neighbourhoods are used to give groups of ordinary citizens resident in the city an opportunity to perceive, experience and describe salient features of environmental inequalities, and responses are analysed using a multi-dimensional scaling (MDS) programme. The results demonstrate that, other things being equal, people in the city are acutely conscious of the inequalities in physical attributes within the city.
Price Profiles for Land in Danish Urban Areas
Authors: Hansen Jørgen Drud , Kristensen Gustav
Published: October 2006

On the basis of assessment data on land prices in Danish city areas, a model showing land rent gradients approximated by a third degree polynomial is estimated for 48 individual Danish cities. The intra-urban structure is connected to an inter-urban model by the expansion method, where the coefficients of the individual towns are functions of town population size and town income level.
Using a Metropolitan-area Econometric Model to Analyse Economic Development Proposals
Authors: Coomes Paul , Olson Dennis , Merchant John
Published: October 2006

This paper shows how an integrated input-output and econometric model has been developed and used by a municipal government to evaluate economic development proposals. The model simulates the impact of attracting or retaining various types of new businesses and calculates fiscal impacts for state and local governments. It can be used to determine a government's bottom-line tax concession or how much it is witting to give up to attract new businesses into the community. We present examples of proposals evaluated using our Louisville metropolitan-area econometric model and suggest that the methodology is readily adaptable to other urban areas.
Rationality in Industrial Location Decisions
Authors: Townroe Peter M.
Published: October 2006

Models of the outcomes of decision-making with respect to location by industrial companies decentralising from a metropolitan core have made the standard economic assumptions of optimising behaviour under constraints, following a path of instrumental rationality. This paper argues the case for widening the perspectives used in the analysis of industrial location decisions to consider both procedural rationality and expressive rationality alongside the standard instrumental view.
Distributing the Benefits of Regional Economic Development
Authors: Danielson Michael N. , Wolpert Julian
Published: October 2006

A rapid and substantial surge of regional growth can result in a highly uneven distribution of development across an urban region's localities. But the benefits of growth for local communities can be more evenly distributed. A growth model combining both infill and footloose components was used to analyse the differential job, tax base and population growth among the 365 contiguous municipalities of northern New Jersey for a period in the 1980s when the region gained 400000 jobs but only 150000 new residents. The growth analysis was followed by an examination of the distribution of six proposed benefit measures. The findings indicate a wider distribution of benefits than of growth per se, strong stability in the distribution of benefits among communities, significant gains for communities that grew most rapidly, and considerable benefits for communities that experienced little or no growth.
On Resolving the Dilemma of Rent Control
Authors: Marks Denton
Published: October 2006

This research examines the motivations for adopting rent control and discusses a policy alternative designed to respond to the political appeal of rent control while minimising the investment distortion, capricious redistribution and administrative complexity of most controls. The policy involves limiting regulation to those rents paid by households in the tenant population that are deemed unable to afford adequate housing. All rental units in a jurisdiction register their rents with the relevant authority and are assigned a controlled rent. Landlords must charge the controlled rent only for eligible households but receive the difference between that rent and the market rent from the government. The analysis considers the design of such a policy, its behavioural incentives and some administrative implications. There is also consideration of the appeal of this policy relative to both conventional controls and policies more popular in the literature, such as a housing allowance.
Local Strategies in Resale Home Financing in the Toronto Housing Market
Authors: Murdie Robert
Published: October 2006

Most analyses of mortgage lending within cities have provided only a partial view of home finance. In this paper a typology of home finance is developed and the incidence and spatial patterning of home finance types are evaluated for Metropolitan Toronto in 1976-77. The evidence suggests a clear spatial differentiation of home finance types and confirmation of hypothesised relationships between finance types and neighbourhood characteristics. In contrast to many UK and US cities, the availability of privately funded second mortgages allowed undercapitalised buyers, particularly European immigrants, to purchase inner-city housing with relatively low down payments. This was an important factor contributing to the lack of physical decay and abandonment in central Toronto during the period after World War II.
A Von Thünen Model of Crime, Casinos and Property Values in New Jersey
Authors: Buck Andrew J. , Deutsch Joseph , Hakim Simon , Spiegel Uriel , Weinblatt J.
Published: October 2006

Urban economic models suggest that, ceteris paribus, land values diminish with distance from a central business district (CBD) which 'produces' employment, income and other amenities. A new industry like casino gaming may have jobs and increased income associated with it. These amenities will induce an increase in property values. The size of that increase diminishes with distance from the city centre. The new industry may have the negative by-product of crime, which is hypothesised to have a reversed, although systematic, effect upon land values. That is, it pays to live in the hinterlands far from the source of crime. Thus, theoretically, the net effect of amenities as a function of distance from the central city is ambiguous. Applying the model to Atlantic City shows that the casinos have brought jobs, additional income and greater real estate values to the region, but the positive impact diminishes with distance from the city centre. However, crime has increased at a rate greater than that which existed prior to the casinos. The cost of crime resulting from casinos, as reflected in unrealised assessed real estate valuation, appears to be on average $5.2m per square mile in 1986 (current prices) in the South Jersey area. For an average community in the area it would amount in 1986 to a total of approximately $105m.
The Price of Land for Housing in Jakarta
Authors: Dowall David E. , Leaf Michael
Published: October 2006

In spite of its potential value to governments, detailed information as to how land prices vary spatially within Third World cities is usually lacking. This paper discusses the distribution of land prices in Jakarta using information provided on a neighbourhood basis by experienced real estate brokers. Appraised prices were given for different types of residential plot distinguished by tenure and infrastructural provision. Analysis of the data in Jakarta shows the relative importance of infrastructural provision and tenure (land title) for land prices. Examination of such data over time makes it possible to test whether and where there has been a spiralling of land prices, and in the case of Jakarta it is found that recent price increases have been consistently greater in suburban areas and in informal-sector plots, arising from the massive demand from low-income households for affordable housing. The paper concludes by drawing out policy implications.
Hedonic Indices and Housing Programme Benefits
Authors: Megbolugbe Isaac F.
Published: October 2006

The availability of reliable measures of housing programme benefits is important for decisions that planners make about appropriate housing policies. This paper advocates the use of hedonic price estimation techniques for the direct measurement of housing programme benefits in developing countries without restrictive characterisations of housing demand. A market-weighted economic welfare index is used to measure the housing benefits. The benefits are the difference between estimated hedonic price equations before and after the implementation of a programme summed across all households and then multiplied by the cash equivalent of a unit of hedonic value. The cash value of a unit of hedonic value is determined by dividing the observed aggregate market value of houses in an analysis sample by the estimated aggregate hedonic value for that sample. Measuring housing programme benefits from direct market valuation of programme-induced changes in housing attributes does not imply that such programmes are necessarily efficient means of delivering services to residents. Nevertheless, the hedonic approach enables policy-makers to consider the opportunity cost for participants through robust analysis.
Fiscal Interactions of Central City and Suburbs: The Case of Zurich
Authors: Pommerehne Werner W. , Krebs Susanne
Published: October 2006

One possible explanation for the migration from the central city to fiscally independent suburbs is a lack of equivalence between taxation and perceived benefits from local public goods. Spill-outs to suburbs add to this process and may lead to fiscal erosion of the central city. Piecemeal evidence is presented that this problem applies to the city of Zurich. Various possible remedies are discussed, one of which has been applied in Zurich, though not successfully. It is shown theoretically and empirically why this failure occurred. Alternative countermeasures are suggested and an account of how Zurich government officials reacted is supplied.
Plant Closures in Urban Areas: Towards a Local Policy Response
Authors: Watts H.D.
Published: October 2006

This paper focuses upon large plant closures by multi-locational firms in urban areas. It argues that it is useful to disaggregate such closures into two categories: cessation closures and selective closures. This classification is applied to closures in Sheffield from 1979 to 1989 and a further distinction is drawn between inter-urban selective closures and intra-urban selective closures. The local environmental factors which had most effect on inter-urban selective closures are identified. It is argued that local policies may be able to influence plants at risk of selective closure (through manipulation of the environmental factors) but that local policies are unlikely to influence plants at risk of cessation closure.
Fiscal Stress: The New System of Local Government Finance in England
Authors: Bailey S.J.
Published: October 2006

This paper assesses the impact of the reformed system of local government finance in England on the ability of local authorities to finance services for their communities. It is set within the context of fiscal stress and particular attention is paid to areas of urban stress. The preliminary findings are that inner city authorities face tighter financial constraints when attempting to improve service provision not just to residents but also to local business. Fiscal stress has been increased and local urban regeneration initiatives have been made more difficult.
The Influence of Regional Development Incentives and Infrastructure on the Location of Small and Medium Sized Companies in Europe
Authors: Moore Barry , Tyler Peter , Elliott Dan
Published: October 2006

Greater levels of economic integration within Europe will bring more intense competition, not least for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). This paper identifies the key factors in the SME location decision from a survey of almost 1400 companies. The most important factor was the availability of regional development assistance, followed by the quality and size of the labour supply, including wage levels, and the potential for future expansion. Infrastructure was found to be relatively unimportant as a locational determinant. These factors apply with considerable uniformity to different industrial sectors, but there are major differences between countries within the European Community (EC).
Housing, Gentrification and Urban Regeneration Policies
Authors: Cameron Stuart
Published: October 2006

The paper examines the role of housing in recent urban regeneration policies and the question of whether this involves a process of gentrification. Using examples from Tyneside, it notes the emphasis on riverside and city centre locations away from established residential areas, and on high-cost housing for sale. It is suggested, though, that this is not gentrification in the most direct sense, in that it does not displace or reduce housing opportunities for low-income residents. Evaluation must take account of non-housing issues, such as the employment effects and the political and ideological implications of these housing policies.
The Inevitable Crisis of the Brazilian Housing Finance System
Authors: Valença Márcio M.
Published: October 2006

This paper summarises the major trends which produced a crisis in the Brazilian Housing Finance System (SFH) during the first half of the 1980s. It constitutes a first effort to contextualise the question within the broader economic framework of recent Brazilian development. It holds the thesis that the crisis was inevitable, due to both the SFH's original operational format and several inconsistent measures adopted piecemeal according to political and economic convenience.
The Dynamics of Local Intervention: Economic Development and the Theory of Local Government
Authors: Collinge Chris
Published: October 2006

A theoretical approach to the large-scale dynamics of local government is derived from Marxian political economy. This is then probed and developed by reference to the history of local authority intervention in the sphere of production over the last 100 years. The historical evidence reveals a pattern of periodic change in the stance of local government towards the local enonomy, a pattern that is broadly correlated with the main phases of economic change which have occurred since 1880. This observation is consistent with the theoretical position indicated at the outset, and supports the view that progress towards a macroscopic theory of local government will depend upon the continued investigation of the long march of local history.
A Contextual Approach to Neighbourhood Attachment
Authors: Woolever Cynthia
Published: October 2006

In spite of prophecies to the contrary, the urban neighbourhood continues to be an important locale for formal and informal social action. Attachment to neighbourhood is complex and the reasons for it are not captured simply by matching the attributes of the individual resident and his or her attitudes and behaviour, as previous studies have suggested. Characteristics of the neighbourhood itself need to be incorporated into an analysis of attachment. It is also argued that the existence or degree of attachment varies between individuals depending upon their resources, opportunities for extra-local links, personal needs and the place in which they live.
TOADS go to New Jersey: Implications for Land Use and Public Health in Mid-sized and Large US Cities
Authors: Greenberg Michael , Popper Frank , West Bernadette , Schneider Dona
Published: October 2006

Temporarily obsolete abandoned derelict sites (TOADS) are deserted commercial, industrial and housing properties and unbuilt sites that become toxic waste dumps, makeshift housing for the homeless and crack houses for drugs. TOADS and their associated problems often spread to adjacent neighbourhoods. Using a sample of 21 mid-sized cities in New Jersey, we show that communities with a poor real estate market, many poor, minority residents and a weak economic base are likely to have serious TOADS-related problems. Appropriate research and civic responses are suggested.
Agglomeration and Competitiveness: From Marshall to Chinitz
Authors: Norton R.D.
Published: October 2006

Chinitz, like Marshall, is better known as a seminal theorist of the urban supply side than for his useful insights on continental economic regeneration. This paper draws on both themes in Chinitz's work. Assuming that the US trade deficit is a fiscal outcome, the question remains as to why some US industries flourish while others fail. The literature since 1988 emphasises the role of urban-industrial clusters in nurturing globally competitive industries. But Route 128's fall suggests limits to this view. The alternative theme is that continentality (1) provides a menu of economic cultures, and (2) generates feedback to demature declining older regions. Enter Europe's 1992. More generally, world development in the 1990s is seen as being led by three continental systems (including East Asia), and operating via the dance of continents and regions—now the primal economic constructs.
Gateway Cities: The Metropolitan Sources of US Producer Service Exports
Authors: Drennan Matthew P.
Published: October 2006

The US's exports of producer services increased threefold in the 1980s. Those exports plus the repatriation of income from foreign affiliates of US producer service firms now equal US agricultural exports. This paper documents the growth and composition of those producer service exports and then attempts to identify their metropolitan sources. Four metropolitan areas, and particularly their central cities, stand out as having both high concentrations and specialisations in producer service industries and as being the location of the head offices of the largest producer service firms. Ordinary least-squares equations are presented for one of the cities, New York, which links the city's producer services sector to US exports of producer services. For the total private gross city product of New York City, the elasticity with respect to US exports of producer services ranges from +0.19 to +0.25.
The Economy of the New York Metropolitan Region, Then and Now
Authors: Netzer Dick
Published: October 2006

Four central ideas of critical importance in understanding the economies of large central cities in the US can be attributed to Ben Chinitz and other economists who had leading roles in the New York Metropolitan Region Study of 1956-59. Those central ideas are examined in the context in which they were developed—the New York region and the spatially—relevant aspects of the US economy at mid century. The paper considers how the ideas have fared in the light of the economic transformations since 1960, and what they offer to the analysis of prospective changes in the largest urban economies. The conclusion is that these ideas continue to offer powerful insights.
The Economy of an Agglomeration: The Case of London
Authors: Crampton Graham , Evans Alan
Published: October 2006

The development of London over the last 30 years is discussed in the context of Chinitz's seminal paper on major US agglomerations. The optimism originally voiced in the 1960s over the future of major urban agglomerations has not been borne out by experience, for a variety of reasons, some purely economic and some the outcome of policy. Even relative to comparable major European cities, London did worse than would be expected given its industrial structure. The Location of Offices Bureau and Office Development Permits have been discussed as a source of decentralisation of employment, but in fact had only limited effects. The reversal of the long decline in Central London employment shown up in the early 1980s by the Cordon Counts was to some degree a rearrangement of commuting patterns, and had in any case faltered by the late 1980s. The operation of the British land use planning system in constraining development in the South-east may also have discouraged firms from expanding in London. This factor may have continued to operate despite the winding-down of regional policy.
Population Growth, Density and the Costs of Providing Public Services
Authors: Ladd Helen F.
Published: October 2006

Recent policy interest in managing local population growth has drawn attention to the fiscal pressures that population growth imposes on local governments. This paper uses 1985 data for 247 large county areas to determine the separate impacts on local government spending of two dimensions of residential development patterns, the rapidity of population growth and the intensity of land use as measured by gross residential densities. Based on a regression model that controls for other determinants of per capita spending, this study provides careful estimates of the nonlinear impacts of population growth and population density on three types of local government spending: current account spending, capital outlays and spending on public safety. The study balances the engineering and planning view that greater population density lowers the costs of providing public services by documenting a U-shaped relationship between spending and density; except in sparsely populated areas, higher density typically increases public sector spending. In addition, the results suggest that rapid population growth imposes fiscal burdens on established residents in the form of lower service levels.
An Empirical Estimation of the Price Effects of Development Impact Fees
Authors: Skaburskis Andrejs , Qadeer Mohammad
Published: October 2006

Empirical analysis of the price of vacant lots sold in three Toronto suburban municipalities during the 1977-86 period shows that development impact fees directly increased lot prices by approximately 1.2 times the size of the fee. The extent of the increase was related to city growth rates. In general, the faster the rate of growth the lower was the price effect of development impact fees. The effects of growth, however, were not consistent across the three municipalities as one municipality appeared to be lowering its fees in response to reductions in growth rates. The policy environment within which fees are implemented and the way fees are adjusted appear to influence their effect on lot prices. The estimated model also suggests that increases in expected future construction costs reduce current lot prices. General increases in the consumers' shelter costs tend to inflate the price of vacant lots. The expectation of future increases in the cost of land development, whether it is due to increases in material prices, wages, development approval processes, growth controls or impact fees, tends to reduce current lot prices. The indirect price effects of introducing and expanding development impact fees tend to counter their direct effects by reducing the size of urban growth premiums.
Electronic Infrastructures and the City: Some Emerging Municipal Policy Roles in the UK
Authors: Graham Stephen D. N.
Published: October 2006

This paper first outlines the problems and opportunities which are presently motivating urban local government in the UK to begin intervention in the development of strategic urban information and communications technologies (ICTs or 'electronic infrastructures'). This intervention, it is argued—although just commencing—is likely to have important long-term implications for urban policy and governance, as ICTs become ever-more central strategic urban infrastructures. Survey evidence of the perceptions of the impacts of electronic infrastructures amongst local policy-makers is then presented. The paper finishes by discussing a spectrum of local policy roles in ICTs presently under development in the UK amongst beading-edge' local authorities, and attempts to examine these within their wider contexts of contemporary urban strategy-making.
The Role of Human Capital in Urban System Structure and Development: The Case of Italy
Authors: Pompili Tomaso
Published: October 2006

The presence of and accessibility to information, mainly created inside competence and power circuits, and the presence of infrastructure to circulate it within and between areas, as exemplified by the endowment of human capital activating them, shape the structure and evolution of the urban system. Four specific hypotheses articulate this statement and are by and large supported by empirical analysis. The data base contains census data (1961, 1971, 1981) on Italian provinces referring to professional skills, employment in innovative industries and employment by control status. A cluster analysis is performed on skills data. The general result of the analysis on human capital satisfies the expectations. Moreover, the distribution and dynamics of human capital explain both the generally backward position of the South and the differences in production structure and functional control within the rest of Italy.
Local Authority Responses to Economic Change in West Central Scotland
Authors: Lever William F.
Published: October 2006

The paper describes the nature of industrial decline and the consequent unemployment in the Glasgow conurbation. The political attitudes of many of the constituent local authorities have made it difficult for them to formulate and deliver policies aimed at achieving economic regeneration in the area. In consequence, a specialist regional development agency, the private sector and voluntary/community bodies have all gained responsibility for intervention in the local economy. In the current political climate, the emphasis has been placed on value-for-money in terms of cost per job created and accuracy in targeting job creation on the most disadvantaged. The paper examines work experience, small business assistance, worker co-operatives, Enterprise Zones, employment and training subsidies, and equity participation.
Economic Change, Income Differentiation and Housing: Urban Response in the Netherlands
Authors: van Weesep Jan , van Kempen Ronald
Published: October 2006

The economic development in the Netherlands and the spatial structure of housing opportunities have led to a concentration of the poor in the large cities. The cities offer a large affordable housing stock, and housing regulations provide the poor with sufficient access to decent housing. There are, however, interesting variations in housing situations among different segments of the poor. It is also characteristic in Dutch cities that the poor find themselves in direct competition with higher-income groups for housing. Recent economic trends, changing housing preferences and deregulation tendencies have increased this competition. The outcome is still uncertain, but may well cast a shadow over the future of the cities.
Regional and Local Responses to Restructuring in Peripheral Rural Areas in Finland
Authors: Oksa Jukka
Published: October 2006

This paper is an interpretation of Finnish rural locality studies in the RURE programme framework. Rural development is described as a series of historical layers of economic development and policies. Since World War II there have been in Finland three successive national 'policy projects' with different rural impacts: the settlement project; the project of the industrial welfare state; and the emerging project of 'new rural policy'. Each one has meant more intensive integration of rural and urban parts of society. The paper focuses on the two periods of transformation from one project to the next. During the first period the earlier rural forms of economy collapsed and development paths of rural communities became diversified. The State supported industrialisation of rural areas (regional policies), rationalisation of agriculture (structural policies and price subsidies) and welfare services. Rural people responded by migrating, by giving their support to political protest parties, and later by organising into village committees. During the second period new social groups have been expressing their conflicting interests towards the countryside. The State is trying to create the 'new rural policy' to channel the funds and experts from earlier agricultural policy into more comprehensive rural development work. The paper ends with a suggestion that it is not possible to talk about rural areas as a target of one policy. That is why the 'new rural policy' might be an impossible project.
Costs of Deficient Infrastructure: The Case of Nigerian Manufacturing
Authors: Sik Lee Kyu , Anas Alex
Published: October 2006

As cities in developing countries continue to grow rapidly, the need to meet the increasing demand for urban infrastructure services has become an important policy problem, since failures to respond adequately to such demand affect productivity and the quality of life in those cities. Based on a survey of manufacturing establishments in Nigerian cities, this paper shows manufacturers' responses to the deficiencies of various public infrastructure services and the extent of the costs of private provisions which serve as the alternatives to the firms. From the empirical observations, the authors develop several policy options: (1) regulatory changes to enable fuller utilisation of existing private provision capacities, such as allowing the sale of excess private power supply; (2) private sector participation in the supply of infrastructure services to make such markets contestable; and (3) pricing policies which will be more efficient in the presence of congestion, systems failures and variations in private provisions by firm size and location.
Fuzzy Targeting of Population Niches in Urban Planning and the Fractal Dimension of Demographic Change
Authors: Akkerman Abraham
Published: October 2006

Measurement of change throughout conglomerates of small geographical areas is of increasing importance in urban planning. Measurement of demographic change in several geographical areas simultaneously is presently not supported by a structured conceptual framework other than the cohort component model. This poses a problem since application of the cohort component model to multitudes of very small populations, such as those in neighbourhoods or census tracts throughout a city, is questionable. Considering the ultimate use of demographic information in urban planning, an alternative reference framework is being proposed along with an application procedure. It is aimed at measuring change between two census dates in four demographic parameters, throughout a conglomerate of subareas. This enables the simultaneous monitoring of demographic change across the conglomerate, listing the subareas by a fuzzy value of change in any of the four parameters. The fuzzy measurement of several demographic parameters compensates for the precision measurement of survivorship, fertility and migration in cohort demography. The degree of fuzziness in the selected parameters, furthermore, allows us to view the record of demographic change in each small area as a fractal relating to the whole city. The degree of fuzziness and the size of small-area populations are related to the fractal dimension of demographic change in the city as a whole.
Scottish Home Improvement Policy, 1945-75: Coming to Terms with the Tenement
Authors: Robertson Douglas S.
Published: October 2006

The paper traces the development of home improvement policy in Scotland, illustrating how the traditional tenemental housing form for a long time hindered, then eventually distinctively shaped, this policy. Tenement housing was a constraint on the promotion of home improvement policy due to a variety of technical and administrative factors. It was, however, the political prejudice against landlords and the social attitudes about tenement housing that proved to be the most difficult to overcome. Reference is also made to the policy-making process within a Scottish context through the examination of a number of influential policy reports, advocating the adoption of home improvement, and how they eventually worked themselves into legislation. The central significance of Glasgow in framing this policy approach is clearly illustrated.
Choice of Location and Mobility Behaviour of Migrant Households in a Third World City
Authors: Ahmad Nuzhat
Published: October 2006

Initial settlement patterns, locational choice between neighbourhoods and mobility behaviour of migrant households in Karachi (a fast-growing city in the Third World) are analysed in this research. A key result of the research is that ethnic considerations are dominating choice of location and are also a major influence on the subsequent mobility of migrant households. Therefore, residential segregation in terms of ethnicity is likely to increase as more migrants come into the city. This may have disastrous spatial consequences in view of the increased ethnic disturbances in the city. The migrant households are also seen to settle mostly in peripheral Katchi Abadis, which is stretching the city outward. Per capita costs of service provision are increasing as a consequence. Locating close to major employment centres is not an important consideration for the migrants but accommodation near workplaces is still preferred. Policies to limit migration and urban sprawl are recommended and should be particularly directed at the new arrivals to the city. The concentration should also be on upgrading existing settlements and making them more accessible.
Family-houses in Ghanaian Cities: To Be or Not To Be?
Authors: Korboe David
Published: October 2006

Rent-free housing consumption is routine in the cities of West Africa. In Kumasi, Ghana's second city, one-quarter of all households occupy free accommodation and the population so housed continues to rise as a result of supply constraints. In spite of its critical role, few definitive studies have attempted to explore the dynamics of this tenurial system. This paper examines the nature of such 'family-housing', as it is known in the West African sub-region. Highlighting the contradictions inherent in this form of housing, the paper further attempts to predict the medium-term future of this form of tenure.
Financial Deregulation and Access to Home Ownership in Australia: An Examination of the Evidence
Authors: Leeson Robert
Published: October 2006

This article evaluates the evidence for a recently expounded proposition that the deposit gap has increased in Australia and that home ownership has, as a consequence, become less accessible. It concludes that this argument is, at best, not proven, on the basis of the evidence that has been offered.
A Model of Rental Housing Choices in the Korean Market
Authors: Kim Seon-Jae
Published: October 2006

The main purpose of this study is to propose and estimate a model of Korean rental housing choice using hierarchical logit analysis. The study focuses on the examination of how households choose their dwelling units in a complex rental housing market. The decision is viewed as a partial sequence process, beginning with the choice of rental housing tenure and finishing with a decision on the type of occupation. To examine an additional step in the urban spatial structure, hedonic price technique is incorporated into a hierarchical logit model. In addition, the separate effects of permanent and transitory components of measured income are examined through the instrumental variables method based on human capital theory. It is shown that the proposed model provides a potentially more useful method than another model, the multinomial logit, in analysing the Korean rental housing market.