Abstract

For a conventional good, an increase in price reduces the consumer surplus of both those who no longer buy the good, and of those who continue to buy it. If, however, consumers must spend real resources to obtain rights for the good, or if the quality depends on the number of other consumers trying to obtain the same good, then a price increase may have different effects. Both these characteristics apply to congestible goods: a consumer’s utility decreases in the price he pays and in the number of other persons who use the good. Some users may gain from a price increase which reduces demand. Therefore, even if the revenue is not returned to the users, their welfare can increase.

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between urban structure and commuting behavior. Analyzing the 1980 journey-to-work data for the Los Angeles region, this paper has shown that polycentric density functions fit the actual urban structure better than the conventional monocentric model. This finding indicates the preeminence of accessibility to major employment centers in location choices.

This paper also estimates commute flows implied by the polycentric and monocentric functions. It finds the monocentric model very poor at explaining commuting behavior. The empirical results show that polycentric urban structure increases the urban commute. This finding helps to preserve the assumption that urban workers economize on commuting, and suggests that efforts to promote more efficient urban form, such as the jobs-housing balance policy, have the potential to succeed.

Abstract

Neotraditional Neighborhood Design (NTND) has gained increasing attention from professional, academic, and popular circles during the past ten years. This review establishes a baseline evaluation of NTND, with the goal of providing the background for more specific research in the future. The first section of the paper orients NTND in a historical context, reviewing the main subdivision design trends of the past century and how NTND has either diverged or borrowed from them. The second section of the paper focuses on a review of current issues and policies related to this planning trend, with special attention directed toward transportation and land use research and the effect of neotraditional design on accessibility of the transportation system. The paper concludes by offering an assessment of the potential of NTND to address growth-related problems in suburban areas and by identifying key unmet research needs.

Abstract

A debate over the empirical underpinnings of urban economic models is emerging under the unlikely rubric of “wasteful commuting.” Hamilton (1982) shows that a commonly used monocentric model, in which employment and population densities decline exponentially from a center, greatly underpredicts actual commuting distances in typical U.S. and Japanese metropolitan areas. He concludes that the monocentric model is fundamentally flawed. This conclusion is challenged by White (1988b), who examines the cost-minimizing assignment of households to residential locations, taking density patterns as they are and measuring cost by travel time. White finds that for a sample of U.S. metropolitan areas, only 11 percent of actual commuting cost is in excess of the cost-minimizing amount, rather than the 87 percent found by Hamilton. Hamilton (1989) and Cropper and Gordon (1991), using variations of White’s technique, obtain results intermediate between these extremes.