We analyse urban growth forms by means of a 2D microeconomic model where households value green space at neighbourhood scale. We analytically demonstrate that cities can grow more densely when households have the possibility to enlarge the neighbourhood in which they value green space, thus emphasizing the importance of neighbourhood planning in particular for facilitating short trips and views of green amenities. We also show by simulation that the size and form of the city, relative to the size and form of neighbourhoods, impact on the decision of households to leapfrog land or not, thus impacting on the emergence of scattered urbanisation patterns. We conclude that carefully addressing the spatial arrangement of green space and buildings and facilitating trips within neighbourhood units constitute an effective policy lever and an attractive way to deliver more sustainable cities. We further argue that our theoretical experiment with complementary analytical and computer-based simulation provides micro-economic reasoning to the main elements of the Garden City and neighbourhood unit planning concepts.
Disciplines :
Human geography & demography Engineering, computing & technology: Multidisciplinary, general & others Special economic topics (health, labor, transportation...)
Author, co-author :
Caruso, Geoffrey ; University of Luxembourg > Faculty of Language and Literature, Humanities, Arts and Education (FLSHASE) > Identités, Politiques, Sociétés, Espaces (IPSE)
Cavailhès, Jean; Institut National de Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Dijon, France > UMR 1041 CESAER
Peeters, Dominique; Université Catholique de Louvain - UCL > Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE)
Thomas, Isabelle; Université Catholique de Louvain - UCL > Center for Operations Research and Econometrics
Frankhauser, Pierre; Université de Franche-Comté, Besançon, France > UMR ThéMA
Vuidel, Gilles; Université de Franche-Comté, Besançon, France > UMR ThéMA
External co-authors :
yes
Language :
English
Title :
Greener and larger neighbourhoods make cities more sustainable! A 2D urban economics perspective
ANR-07-BLAN-0029, ECDESUP project; European Regional Development Fund (ODIT (CEUP) project, program FE 2007/2013 - operation 35446
Commentary :
Highlights
• 2D urban growth simulation model grounded in microeconomics
• First mathematical analysis of leapfrog sprawl in 2D
• The size and the form of the city impact on the decision to leapfrog land.
• Enlarging and greening neighbourhoods increase both density and residential utility.
• Planners should further consider the local arrangement and access to green space.