Modelling firm (re-)location choice in UrbanSim

Over the last decade, low economic growth rates resulted in intensified competition between nations, regions, and towns in trying to attract new firms and inhabitants. In particular, the establishment of new firms has become one of the most vital objectives of governments and public authorities all over Europe. To raise the attractiveness of a region, different instruments have been used: tax reductions, incentives for new establishments, as business destination promotion activities, supply of outstanding infrastructure and public services. On the one hand, this paper investigates effects of different possible options for cantonal and municipal authorities’ intent to attract firms: improvements in transport infrastructure, designation of new building zones, and last but not least tax reductions. These actions have been tested by simulating the decisions of existing firms. The parameters for these simulations have been estimated with a discrete choice model using data of the cantons St.Gallen and both Appenzell as well as Zurich. On the other hand, the paper aims to provide an approach to implement these models in UrbanSim. UrbanSim is a software-based simulation system for supporting planning and analysis of urban development, incorporating the interactions between land use, transportation, the economy, and the environment. At the moment, UrbanSim is adapted to an European context (see the according research project SustainCity, www.sustaincity.eu).

Planning for the Future: A Land-Use and Transport Interaction Model for Switzerland

Spatial and transport planners, authorities, real estate developers, investors, re-locating residents and businesses have different questions related to space and transport. These questions may concern specific land parcels, or cover a much larger area such as a city, a region, or even a whole nation. Amongst others, these questions include: - How will our society respond to influences of global economy and political decisions (e.g. regarding demographics and firmographics)? - Which strategies will help authorities and politicians to reach their goals? - What are the spatial effects (and side-effects) of these decisions and demographic changes (e.g. spatial/social segregation, use of resources and infrastructure, climate impact)? To answer these questions, different scenarios have been simulated including all 3000 municipalities in Switzerland using the integrated transport and land use simulation tool FaLC (Facility Location Choice Simulation Tool). FaLC incorporates interactions between land use, transportation, economy and public policy and has been developed in a joint project between the Institute for Transport Planning and Systems (IVT) at ETH Zurich, regioConcept (Switzerland) and ESMO (Slovakia). The models in FaLC focus on the effects of changing infrastructure supply, political decisions, and economic conditions on the spatial behaviour (location and relocation choices, transport flows) of persons (places of residence, work, leisure and shopping), firms (domicile, branches) and goods (freights, wholesale, retail, cash flow). In FaLC, persons move (or stay) in a certain space divided into a number of subareas (locations), comparable to a chess board. The agents' movement includes the daily commuters between home, work and leisure, as well as long-term decisions such as; where they live, work and generally spend their spare time. The first prototype of FaLC is already in operation and ready to create future scenarios. The implemented case study for Switzerland focusses basically on three scenarios: - Effects of road network modification - Effects of company taxes reduction - Effects of land regulation modification This paper shows the effects and side-effects of these assumed spatial interventions. Additionally, it discusses some problems of the chosen micro-simulation approach (e.g. data availability, white noise, choice of subsets)

Modelle zur Standortwahl von Unternehmen

Der vorliegende Arbeitsbericht liefert einen Überblick zu den aus heutiger Sicht relevanten Forschungsansätzen zur Standortwahl von Unternehmen und den darin verwendeten Modellvariablen. Daraus wird ein Set von Einflussvariablen mit entsprechenden Indikatoren abgeleitet

Schweizer Unternehmen - quo vaditis?: Firmendemographische Trends am Beispiel des Wirtschaftsraums St. Gallen

In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird die Demographie der zwischen 1991 und 2006 im Handelsregister der Kantone St.Gallen und beider Appenzell eingetragenen Unternehmen untersucht. Dabei geht es insbesondere um den Einfluss des Alters, der Grösse, der Branche sowie des Standortes der Unternehmen auf deren Migrationsverhalten. Zudem wird auch die aus firmendemographischer Sicht zentrale räumliche Verteilung von Gründungen und Löschungen betrachtet. In einem logit-loglinearen Modell werden die entsprechenden Resultate zusammengefasst und quantifiziert. Das erwähnte Modell ermöglicht die Untersuchung und Schätzung der bisher vernachlässigten Wechselwirkungseffekte sowie der Effekte der einzelnen Einflussgrössen unter Berücksichtigung der Effekte aller anderen Faktoren im Modell

Location decisions of firms: A discrete choice model for the St. Gallen region, Switzerland

Because of the interdependence between resident population (e.g. as customers or manpower) and economic activities (e.g. shops or services), firm location decisions play an important role in comprehensive land use models. However, due to a lack of data at the micro level permit-ting the estimation of discrete choice models, there is only little research on this topic. In this paper, data from the commercial registers of three Swiss cantons, St. Gallen, Appenzell Ausserrhoden, and Appenzell Innerrhoden, have been analysed. This dataset provides infor-mation on more than 50,000 companies during 1991 to 2006. Various variables such as local taxes, governmental business friendliness, and accessibilities have been tested in a Nested Logit (NL) model. The results show that distance, local taxes, and cantonal business devel-opment have a strong influence on firm location choice. Furthermore, significant differences between sectors can be identified. For instance, residents with graduate degrees have a sig- nificant and high impact on service industries

Implementation of a synthetic population for Switzerland: Swiss case study 2013

The main goal of the first version of the Swiss Case Study is to test convenience and achieve- ment of the stated objectives of the whole FaLC project. This report focusses on the Synthetic Population that has been implemented during the year 2013. This Implementation will also serve as a template for further Case Studies. Therefore, the report takes part of the FaLC documentation (comparable to an implementation guide)