Urban Multifunctional Land Use and Externalities

A recent planning devise aimed at dealing with land scarcity is the propagation of multifunctional land use. Multifunctional land use can generally be defined as the combination of different socio-economic functions in the same area. The goal of Multifunctional Land Use (as a planning concept), just like New Urbanism, Smart Growth and the Compact City Concept, is to save scarce space by intensifying the use of space. Before we can assess the social desirability of multifunctional land use projects, we need to answer the question as to why various activities cluster in space, and what types of synergy might arise from such clustering. We do so by addressing multifunctional land use as an empirical phenomenon instead of a planning concept. Although multifunctional land use encompasses more than the clustering of economic activities, for example also the allocation of land use claims made by housing, transport, water, recreation and nature, in this paper we focus on the economic effects of the clustering of economic activities. We do so by focusing on the concept of agglomeration economies in general and ‘returns to diversity’ in particular. By means of a simple spatial-economic model we show the spatial equilibrium impacts of the existence of multifunctional land use. The model investigates market failures that may hamper the spontaneous emergence of optimal activity mixes in spatial clusters, and addresses the question of whether private monopolistic development of multifunctional sites would by-pass such market failures. Keywords: Agglomeration, competitive advantage, economies of scale, economies of diversity, multifunctional land use.

Social costs of land use claims for transport infrastructure: a survey for The Netherlands

In this paper the social costs of land use claims for transport infrastructure are investigated for The Netherlands. This is a complement to the study on ''''Efficient pricing of traffic: estimation of the social costs of the use of transport modes" carried out in The Netherlands by CE (1999). In the present study we pay attention to the acquisition costs of land for infrastructure, the indirect costs of land use caused by infrastructure and the costs of infrastructure as barriers in - and the fragmentation of - the landscape. The paper gives an overview of the problems associated with measuring the land related costs of transport infrastructure. Estimates are given of the land use claims %28in m2) for various types of transport infrastructure. In addition some of the land related cost categories are estimated. These costs are allocated to the various transport modes (cars and trucks of various types, barges, rail and aircraft).

Urban Multifunctional Land Use and Externalities

Acknowledgement This research has been conducted in the context of the HABIFORUM research project "Concept Development and Evaluation of Multifunctional land Use. The author gratefully thanks HABIFORUM for the financial support for this research. 1 Introduction Multifunctional land use is a spatial planning principle aimed at dealing with land scarcity. Multifunctional land use (MLU) is defined by Priemus et al. as "the combination of different socio-economic functions in the same area" In this paper we investigate the possible effects of MLU by means of a literature review and a modelling approach. We focus especially on knowledge spillovers that might result from the presence of a diversity of land use functions in a MLU setting. We furthermore explore whether these effects are correctly reflected in market prices. In section 2 we discuss the effects of MLU in more detail. In Section 3 we take MLU out of a spatial planning context and address it as a spatial-economic phenomenon and focus on the economic effects that might accrue from a MLU project. We discuss here the concept of agglomeration economics in general and 'returns to diversity' and knowledge spillovers in particular. In Section 4, we present a simple spatial-economic model and show the spatial equilibrium impacts of the existence of knowledge spillovers resulting from MLU projects. The main aim is to develop a spatial economic model which depicts the characteristics of MLU. The model should allow us to analyse the welfare effects of multifunctional land use. We furthermore, investigate the possible roles of governments and entrepreneurs in stimulating MLU. In Section 5 the paper is concluded

A Framework for Quality of Life Assessment of Urban Green Areas in Europe; An application to District Park Reudnitz Leipzig

A general concern on quality of life, with a particular view to the city has emerged in the last decade. The positive relation between quality of life and urban green is often described as significant. Therefore, public and private decision-makers want and need better information about the quantity and quality of urban green available in their city. Another important aspect to urban green is to which extent the area satisfies the needs of the users and the inhabitants of the city. Only if users are satisfied with the urban green it will increase the quality of life in the city. This paper is part of the project ?Development of Urban Green Spaces to Improve the Quality of Life in Cities and Urban Regions? (URGE). The aim of the URGE project is to improve the provision of cities with green spaces, both qualitatively and quantitatively, thus enhancing the quality of life of the urban population and contributing to the sustainable development of European cities. One major objective is to increase the available knowledge about the complex interactions between nature, economy and social systems in urban environments. To be able to increase this knowledge, several criteria concerning ecological, economic, social and planning attributes have been developed. The purpose of this paper is to describe and discuss an evaluation framework, which can be used to evaluate the quality of an urban green area with help of the developed criteria. This evaluation framework includes Regime Analysis, which is a discrete multi-assessment method suitable to assess projects as well as policies. It can be used to evaluate and compare an urban green area with a benchmark or with other green areas. This paper will describe the evaluation of the Leipzig ?District Park Reudnitz? with help of a benchmark which is composed of planning objectives and expert meanings.

A Comparative study of Integrated River Basin Projects in Europe

Since climate changes became more obvious and since growing concern about our responsibility for the environment started, water management became more important. Projects carried out in river basin areas often impose changes in spatial functions that are situated in these areas. The analysis of scarcity issues regarding spatial functions observed in a river basin area is at the core of economic and spatial sciences. Water functions are predominant in a river basin area and problems related to these functions highlight the increasing scarcity of water in the world. Scarcity could be a shortage of water quantity, but also a shortage of water of a certain quality or protection against an abundance of water. Evaluation processes are the heart of public decision-making when spatial projects are carried out. For decades, project evaluation was carried out by measuring tangible streams of cost and benefits summarised in a cost-benefit analysis. Recently, environmental and social aspects gradually get more attention in the public decision making process by means of for example multi-criteria analysis. This method is a tool to evaluate the scores of totally different indicators with the great advantage that they do not necessarily have to be expressed in streams of costs. In this paper we carry out a comparative analysis of evaluation techniques for projects carried out in river basin areas. We evaluate for which projects certain techniques are used and to which extend the chosen technique is related to for example environmental, institutional and communicative indicators. The method used for this evaluation is a rough set analysis. For this analysis projects concerning river basins, carried out in different river regions of Europe, with different kind of problems are used, to obtain a broad overview.

Social Costs of Direct and Indirect Land Use by Transport Infrastructure

In this paper the social costs of land use for transport infrastructure are investigated for theNetherlands. We pay attention to the acquisition costs of land for infrastructure and theindirect costs of land use caused by transport. The paper gives an overview of the problemsassociated with measuring land related costs of transport infrastructure. Estimates are givenof land use (in m2) for various types of transport infrastructure. In addition some of the landrelated cost categories are estimated. These costs are allocated to the various transportmodes (cars and trucks of various types, barges, rail, and aircraft) on the basis of theirrelative transport kilometres and their passenger car equivalents. We find that direct andindirect land use equals respectively 7.2% and 1.6% of the total area of the Netherlands.Indirect land use appears to be especially important for aviation. The importance of indirectland use is shown by the value of land involved. The economic valuation of the indirect landuse is about 16% of the total land related costs of transport infrastructure

Klimaat In Ruimtelijke Keuzes: Het Dialoogondersteunend Afwegingskader (DAK)

Het doel van het HSHL01 project ‘Klimaat in ruimtelijke keuzes’ is om een dialoog ondersteunend afwegingskader (DAK) te ontwikkelen en toe te passen. Met dit afwegingskader kunnen de betrokken partijen gezamenlijk de lange termijn effecten van klimaatverandering op het waterbeheer in een vroegtijdig stadium en op inzichtelijke wijze meewegen in het proces van ruimtelijke planvorming. Het gaat hierbij zowel om de locatiekeuze van ruimtelijke ontwikkelingen als de inrichting van eenmaal gekozen woningbouwlocaties, bedrijventerreinen en glastuinbouwlocaties

Urban Multifunctional Land Use: Theoretical and Empirical Insights on Economies of Scale, Scope and Diversity

A recent planning device aimed at dealing with land scarcity is the propagation of multifunctional land use. This paper describes the evolution of urban planning concepts and their links to economic theory. We argue that the most distinctive feature of multifunctional land use is its emphasis on return to diversity. This concept is rooted in the modern economic theory of agglomeration. Empirical evidence is shown to provide some support for the quantitative relevance of return to diversity, but is still to a large extent in its infancy. More evidence is required for policy purposes aimed at identifying the optimal extent to which multifunctional land use projects have to be pursued