Geographical Stratification of Green Urban Areas

in Journal of Economic Geography (2021)

This article studies the provision of urban green areas in cities where residents have preferences for the size of and access to those areas. At the optimum, the number of urban green spaces is a ... [more ▼]

This article studies the provision of urban green areas in cities where residents have preferences for the size of and access to those areas. At the optimum, the number of urban green spaces is a nonmonotone function of distance to the city center, while the sizes and distances to other urban green areas increase as one moves to the urban fringe. This article empirically investigates those properties for the 300 largest European cities by using the Global Monitoring Environment Services Urban Atlas database (European Environmental Agency). The empirical analysis confirms the nonmonotone relationship between the number of urban green spaces and the distance to the city center. The distance between two parks also increases as one moves toward the urban fringe. [less ▲]

Urban Green Amenity and City Structure

Doctoral thesis (2020)

One of the main components that make cities attractive to their residents is their public park and garden systems. Green urban areas from a small community garden to famous areas such as `Jardin du ... [more ▼]

One of the main components that make cities attractive to their residents is their public park and garden systems. Green urban areas from a small community garden to famous areas such as `Jardin du Luxembourg' in Paris not only shape the face of the city but are a quintessential aspect of the quality of life for local inhabitants. They offer places for local recreation, beautiful views, cleaner air and many other advantages. Recent research has validated the connection between urban parks and the well-being of the city's inhabitants. Although green urban areas might seem to be meagre in comparison with other natural ecosystems such as wetlands or forests, the value of the environmental, recreational, and other services they offer is likely to be disproportionally high due to their strategic locations. This dissertation focuses on studying the optimal provision of green urban areas and the welfare effects of a substantial change in green provision policies in the presence of other types of land uses and adverse shocks. It comprises four papers (chapters). [less ▲]

Green Urban Areas

E-print/Working paper (2019)

This paper studies the size and location of urban green areas across city spaces. Urban green areas offer amenities that affect residential choices, land consumption and land rent. This paper discusses ... [more ▼]

This paper studies the size and location of urban green areas across city spaces. Urban green areas offer amenities that affect residential choices, land consumption and land rent. This paper discusses the socially optimal sizes and locations of urban green areas within a city and their decentralized allocation through land markets. The main result is that the share of land dedicated to urban green areas is a concave function of the distance to the city center. This result is confirmed by the empirical study of urban structures in the 305 largest EU cities. The importance of urban green areas is finally assessed by a counterfactual analysis, where 50% of urban green areas are removed in each city. [less ▲]