The Urban Rent Question

Urban land rent theory has both fascinated and repelled researchers. The fascination stems from the idea that rent holds the key to urban spatial structures and distributional conflicts. The repulsion is based on bemusement at the complexity and jargon of the rent literature and rejection of rent's assumed centrality. In this paper the author surveys the urban rent literature and presents an alternative interpretation of the role of urban rent. It is suggested that the ambiguous theoretical status of urban land rent stems from an overemphasis in the rent literature on the distributional implications of rent mechanisms at the expense of their potential influence on the social relations of building provision. The neoclassical economics model of urban rent and land use is critically evaluated and the extensive attempts to apply Marx's theory of rent to the urban situation are questioned. The ability to revive Marxist urban rent theory through the treatment of rent as a component of structures of building provision is then elaborated by reference to housing provision and office development. When placed in such a historical context, it is suggested, rent takes on a more meaningful, if less messianic, role.