Growth effects of urban-rural and intra-regional linkages on counties and communities in the U.S.

This dissertation investigates the population growth effects of urban-rural and intra-regional linkages in the United States. This dissertation follows the three paper format. The first paper (Chapter 2) investigates the construct reliability of a nodality-based spatial structure scheme for U.S. metropolitan regions. Using a broad literature review of the relationships between monocentrism, polycentrism, and economic and demographic variables, I develop hypotheses regarding theoretical characteristics of monocentric and polycentric regions. I test these hypotheses using data from regions defined by the nodality-based spatial structure scheme as monocentric or polycentric. In general, I find that while the drivers of monocentricity are well understood in the literature and are reflected in the empirically classified monocentric regions, our theoretical understanding of and our ability to detect polycentricity are not as robust. This underscores the need to investigate further the growth effects of urban-rural and intra-regional linkages. In the second paper (Chapter 3) I investigate the growth effects in non-metropolitan places of growth in proximate Metropolitan Statistical Areas. This chapter concludes that while commuting plays a critical role in delivering the benefits of urban growth to non-metropolitan places, economic linkages and commodity flows likely play a much more significant role. Additionally, there is evidence that non-metropolitan places develop to suit the demands of the nearest city, rather than participating in more global markets, though much future work could be done in this area. In the third paper (Chapter 4) I investigate spatial heterogeneity in the relationship between commuting and migration in a broad region around Chicago. This chapter supports earlier research findings that population deconcentration is driving the spatial expansion of economic activity, but that the drivers of that deconcentration vary significantly across space

Assessing the Feasibility of Side Yard Programs as a Solution to Land Vacancy in U.S. Shrinking Cities

Scholars have recommended various strategies to combat land vacancy in shrinking cities. Side yard programs, in which adjacent homeowners purchase vacant lots, represent one such solution. We use the case study city of St. Louis, Missouri to evaluate this approach’s potential for reducing residential land vacancy. The analysis reveals that while demand-side issues (i.e., affordability) exist, the supply-side barriers (i.e., restrictive guidelines and inequitable or illogical pricing structures) are the larger constraints for the program’s success. In St. Louis, the program as currently structured could find buyers for approximately 10.8% of vacant residential parcels if all eligible buyers were interested. Through comparison of policy scenarios, we conclude that program policy significantly influences a program’s potential success, through a range of mechanisms including: restrictions regarding buyers’ owner-occupancy status, side yard lot width maximums, and pricing structure. State legislation regarding tax foreclosure auctions and elements of urban design also influence program effectiveness

Assessing the Feasibility of Side Yard Programs as a Solution to Land Vacancy in U.S. Shrinking Cities

Scholars have recommended various strategies to combat land vacancy in shrinking cities. Side yard programs, in which adjacent homeowners purchase vacant lots, represent one such solution. We use the case study city of St. Louis, Missouri to evaluate this approach’s potential for reducing residential land vacancy. The analysis reveals that while demand-side issues (i.e., affordability) exist, the supply-side barriers (i.e., restrictive guidelines and inequitable or illogical pricing structures) are the larger constraints for the program’s success. In St. Louis, the program as currently structured could find buyers for approximately 10.8% of vacant residential parcels if all eligible buyers were interested. Through comparison of policy scenarios, we conclude that program policy significantly influences a program’s potential success, through a range of mechanisms including: restrictions regarding buyers’ owner-occupancy status, side yard lot width maximums, and pricing structure. State legislation regarding tax foreclosure auctions and elements of urban design also influence program effectiveness

Ganning_Supplementary_File – Supplemental material for Moving toward a Shared Understanding of the U.S. Shrinking City

<p>Supplemental material, Ganning_Supplementary_File for Moving toward a Shared Understanding of the U.S. Shrinking City by Joanna P. Ganning and J. Rosie Tighe in Journal of Planning Education and Research</p

But do Lower-Wage Jobs Follow? Comparing Wage-Based Outcomes of Light Rail Transit to Control Corridors

Literature suggests that rail transit improvements should be associated with more jobs and perhaps increasing share of jobs in a metropolitan area. Literature and some research also suggest that such improvements should increase the number of lower-wage jobs accessible to transit. In this paper, we assess both in the context of all 11 light rail transit systems built in metropolitan areas of fewer than eight million residents in the nation since 1981. Using census block-level job data over the period 2002 to 2011, we evaluate change in jobs and change in metropolitan area job share for all jobs, and lower- and upper-wage jobs for selected light rail transit (LRT) corridors and comparable corridors in each of these 11 metropolitan areas. Overall, we find little difference between the LRT and control corridors in both attracting new jobs and new lower-wage jobs, or in changing relative share of jobs compared to their metropolitan areas, though systems built since 2004 appear to have fared slightly better in both respects. We view these results as generally supportive of LRT employment-related objectives. Planning and policy implications are offered

Transit and Economic Resilience

Do fixed-guideway transit systems facilitate resilience with metropolitan areas? There is little literature making this connection theoretically and none testing it empirically. This paper helps close this gap in both respects. In evaluating metropolitan areas with light rail transit systems the authors find evidence that transit corridors on the whole performed better than control corridors during the recovery period of two recessions: that of the early 2000s and the so-called Great Recession. In particular, during the Great Recession transit corridors outperformed control corridors among many economic sectors. Outcomes were more impressive during recoveries from both the recession of the early 2000s and the Great Recession. The authors offer implications for the role of these forms of fixed-guideway transit on economic resiliency

Commuter Rail Transit and Economic Development

Commuter rail transit (CRT) is a form of rail passenger service connecting downtowns and other major activity centers with suburban commuter towns and beyond. Between 1834 and 1973, only three public CRT systems were built in the U.S. serving New York, Chicago and then Boston. There are now 25 such systems. Modern CRT systems aim to expand economic development in metropolitan areas. But do they? This paper evaluates the economic development performance of five modern CRT systems. The authors find that several economic sectors perform well within 0.50 miles of CRT stations. The authors offer planning and policy implications

Retail Rent with Respect to Distance from Light Rail Transit Stations in Dallas and Denver

A growing body of recent research is challenging the assumptions underlying the half-mile-circle in planning for development around transit stations. In this article we review this literature and extend it to include retail land uses. We estimate the rent premium conferred on retail properties in metropolitan Dallas and metropolitan Denver, both of which have extensive light rail transit systems. We find that consistent with half-mile-circle assumptions, retail rent premiums extend only to about 0.30 mile from transit stations with half the premium dissipating after a few hundred feet and three quarters within the first 0.10 mile. We offer implications for planners and public officials

Office Rent Premiums With Respect To Distance From Light Rail Transit Stations In Dallas And Denver

It seems an article-of-faith that real estate markets respond more favorably to location within one-half mile of transit stations. Planning and public decision-makers have thus drawn half-mile (or smaller) circles around rail transit stations assuming larger planning areas would not be supported by the evidence. Recent research, however, has shown market-responsiveness well beyond one-half mile. We contribute to this literature by evaluating the distance-decay function of office rents in metropolitan Dallas and Denver with respect to light rail transit (LRT) station distance. Using a quadratic transformation of distance we find office rent premiums extending in the range of two miles away from LRT stations with half the premium dissipating at about two-thirds on one mile and three quarters dissipating at about one mile. We offer planning and policy implications including the need to expand LRT station planning areas, perhaps considerably

Real Estate Development and Economic Development Planning Education: Pragmatic Turn or Trojan Horse?

Development planning agencies seek professionals who understand the real estate process, which has led to an interest in real estate development courses within planning programs; however, educators are skeptical of conflating the two because real estate development is often at odds with the economic development field’s focus on social equity. How should economic development planning educators approach real estate? This article extends the discussion of four panelists at the 2019 Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP) conference. A pedagogical approach promoting social equity and economic opportunity along with meaningful returns on real estate investment is one panelists deemed critical