This file is part of IDEAS, which uses RePEc data


[ Papers | Articles | Software | Books | Chapters | Authors | Institutions | JEL Classification | NEP reports | Search | New papers by email | Author registration | Rankings | Volunteers | FAQ | Blog | Help! ]

Causes of Sprawl: A Portrait from Space

Author info | Abstract | Publisher info | Download info | Related research | Statistics
Author Info
Marcy Burchfield (Neptis Foundation)
Henry G. Overman (London School of Economics and CEPR)
Diego Puga (University of Toronto, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, CREI, CEPR, and NBER)
Matthew A. Turner (University of Toronto)

Additional information is available for the following registered author(s):

Abstract

We study the extent to which U. S. urban development is sprawling and what determines differences in sprawl across space. Using remote-sensing data to track the evolution of land use on a grid of 8.7 billion 30 × 30 meter cells, we measure sprawl as the amount of undeveloped land surrounding an average urban dwelling. The extent of sprawl remained roughly unchanged between 1976 and 1992, although it varied dramatically across metropolitan areas. Ground water availability, temperate climate, rugged terrain, decentralized employment, early public transport infrastructure, uncertainty about metropolitan growth, and unincorporated land in the urban fringe all increase sprawl. Copyright (c) 2006 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology..

Download Info
To download:

If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. Information about this may be contained in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.

File URL: http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1162/qjec.2006.121.2.587
File Format: text/html
File Function: link to full text
Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version under "Related research" (further below) or search for a different version of it.

Publisher Info
Article provided by MIT Press in its journal Quarterly Journal of Economics.

Volume (Year): 121 (2006)
Issue (Month): 2 (May)
Pages: 587-633
Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML (with abstract), plain text (with abstract), BibTeX, RIS (EndNote, RefMan, ProCite), ReDIF
Handle: RePEc:tpr:qjecon:v:121:y:2006:i:2:p:587-633

Contact details of provider:
Web page: http://mitpress.mit.edu/journals/

Order Information:
Web: http://mitpress.mit.edu/journal-home.tcl?issn=00335533

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: (Christopher F. Baum).

Related research
Keywords:

Other versions of this item:

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Charles M. Tiebout, 1956. "A Pure Theory of Local Expenditures," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 64, pages 416. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Glaeser, E.L. & Scheinkman, J.A., 1993. "Economic Growth in a Cross-Section of Cities," Harvard Institute of Economic Research Working Papers 1645, Harvard - Institute of Economic Research.
    Other versions:
  3. Duncan Black & Vernon Henderson, 2003. "Urban evolution in the USA," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 3(4), pages 343-372, October.
  4. Elena G. Irwin, 2002. "The Effects of Open Space on Residential Property Values," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 78(4), pages 465-480. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Turner, Matthew A., 2005. "Landscape preferences and patterns of residential development," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(1), pages 19-54, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  6. Edward L. Glaeser & Janet E. Kohlhase, 2003. "Cities, Regions and the Decline of Transport Costs," NBER Working Papers 9886, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Wheaton, William C., 1974. "A comparative static analysis of urban spatial structure," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 9(2), pages 223-237, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Alex Anas & Richard Arnott & Kenneth A. Small, 1998. "Urban Spatial Structure," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 36(3), pages 1426-1464, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  9. Mieszkowski, Peter & Smith, Barton, 1991. "Analyzing urban decentralization : The case of Houston," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 183-199, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Capozza, Dennis R. & Helsley, Robert W., 1990. "The stochastic city," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 187-203, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Bar-Ilan, Avner & Strange, William C., 1996. "Urban Development with Lags," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 87-113, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. David M. Cutler & Edward L. Glaeser & Jacob L. Vigdor, 1999. "The Rise and Decline of the American Ghetto," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 107(3), pages 455-506, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  13. Mieszkowski, Peter & Mills, Edwin S, 1993. "The Causes of Metropolitan Suburbanization," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 7(3), pages 135-47, Summer. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. Edward L. Glaeser & Matthew E. Kahn, 2001. "Decentralized Employment and the Transformation of the American City," NBER Working Papers 8117, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  15. Overman, Henry G. & Ioannides, Yannis M., 2001. "Cross-Sectional Evolution of the U.S. City Size Distribution," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 543-566, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  16. Henderson, J V, 1974. "The Sizes and Types of Cities," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 64(4), pages 640-56, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  17. Holmes, Thomas J. & Stevens, John J., 2004. "Spatial distribution of economic activities in North America," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: J. V. Henderson & J. F. Thisse (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 63, pages 2797-2843 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  18. Robert E. Lucas & Esteban Rossi-Hansberg, 2002. "On the Internal Structure of Cities," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 70(4), pages 1445-1476, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  19. Arnott, Richard J & Lewis, Frank D, 1979. "The Transition of Land to Urban Use," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 87(1), pages 161-69, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  20. Fujita, Masahisa, 1976. "Spatial patterns of urban growth: Optimum and market," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(3), pages 209-241, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  21. Rosenthal Stuart S. & Helsley Robert W., 1994. "Redevelopment and the Urban Land Price Gradient," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 182-200, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  22. Rappaport, Jordan & Sachs, Jeffrey D, 2003. " The United States as a Coastal Nation," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 8(1), pages 5-46, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  23. Edward L. Glaeser, Jed Kolko, and Albert Saiz, 2001. "Consumer city," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 1(1), pages 27-50, January.
    Other versions:
  24. Rosenthal, Stuart S. & Strange, William C., 2004. "Evidence on the nature and sources of agglomeration economies," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: J. V. Henderson & J. F. Thisse (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 49, pages 2119-2171 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  25. Edward L. Glaeser & Matthew E. Kahn, 2003. "Sprawl and Urban Growth," NBER Working Papers 9733, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  26. Imai, Haruo, 1982. "CBD hypothesis and economies of agglomeration," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 275-299, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  27. Geoghegan, Jacqueline & Wainger, Lisa A. & Bockstael, Nancy E., 1997. "Spatial landscape indices in a hedonic framework: an ecological economics analysis using GIS," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 251-264, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  28. Katz, Lawrence & Rosen, Kenneth T, 1987. "The Interjurisdictional Effects of Growth Controls on Housing Prices," Journal of Law & Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 30(1), pages 149-60, April.
Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Eid, Jean & Overman, Henry G. & Puga, Diego & Turner, Matthew A, 2007. "Fat City: Questioning the Relationship Between Urban Sprawl and Obesity," CEPR Discussion Papers 6191, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  2. Gilles Duranton & Matthew A. Turner, 2007. "Urban growth and transportation," Working Papers tecipa-305, University of Toronto, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Thomas J. Holmes & Sanghoon Lee, 2007. "Cities as Six-By-Six-Mile Squares: Zipf’s Law?," NBER Chapters, in: The Economics of Agglomeration National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!]
  4. Jean Eid & Henry G. Overman & Diego Puga & Matthew A. Turner, 2006. "Fat City: The Relationship Between Urban Sprawl and Obesity," Working Papers tecipa-255, University of Toronto, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. Thomas J. Holmes & Sanghoon Lee, 2009. "Economies of Density versus Natural Advantage: Crop Choice on the Back Forty," NBER Working Papers 14704, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  6. Matthew Allen Turner, 2006. "A Simple Theory of Smart Growth and Sprawl," Working Papers tecipa-208, University of Toronto, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  7. Marcus Berliant, 2005. "Well Isn't That Spatial?! Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics: A View From Economic Theory," Urban/Regional 0503001, EconWPA, revised 08 Apr 2005. [Downloadable!]
  8. Henry G. Overman & Diego Puga & Matthew A. Turner, 2007. "Decomposing the growth in residential land in the United States," Working Papers 2007-02, Instituto Madrileño de Estudios Avanzados (IMDEA) Ciencias Sociales. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  9. Nathan Nunn & Diego Puga, 2009. "Ruggedness: The Blessing of Bad Geography in Africa," NBER Working Papers 14918, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  10. Macauley, Molly K., 2009. "Earth Observations in Social Science Research for Management of Natural Resources and the Environment: Identifying the Contribution of the U.S. Land Remote Sensing (Landsat) Program," Discussion Papers dp-09-01, Resources For the Future. [Downloadable!]
  11. David Albouy, 2008. "Are Big Cities Really Bad Places to Live? Improving Quality-of-Life Estimates across Cities," NBER Working Papers 14472, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Jan K. Brueckner & Robert W. Helsley, 2009. "Sprawl and Blight," CESifo Working Paper Series CESifo Working Paper No. , CESifo Group Munich. [Downloadable!]
  13. Diego Puga, 2009. "The magnitude and causes of agglomeration economies," Working Papers 2009-09, Instituto Madrileño de Estudios Avanzados (IMDEA) Ciencias Sociales. [Downloadable!]
  14. Candau, Fabien, 2006. "The Spatial and Public Economics of Regions, a Theoretical and Empirical Survey," MPRA Paper 1153, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
  15. Albert Solé-Ollé & Miriam Hortas-Rico, 2008. "Does urban sprawl increase the costs of providing local public services? Evidence from Spanish municipalities," Working Papers XREAP2008-10, Xarxa de Referència en Economia Aplicada (XREAP), revised Nov 2008. [Downloadable!]
  16. Song, Yan & Zenou, Yves, 2008. "How Differences in Property Taxes within Cities Affect Urban Sprawl?," CEPR Discussion Papers 6842, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  17. Edward L. Glaeser & Matthew E. Kahn, 2008. "The Greenness of Cities: Carbon Dioxide Emissions and Urban Development," NBER Working Papers 14238, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Statistics
Access and download statistics

Did you know? You can create your own reading lists on IDEAS.

This page was last updated on 2009-11-16.

This information is provided to you by IDEAS at the Department of Economics, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Connecticut using RePEc data on a server sponsored by the Society for Economic Dynamics.