Incorporating more economics into urban planning

Hugh Schwartz

Journal of Urban Regeneration and Renewal, 2015, vol. 8, issue 3, 280-300

Abstract: This paper deals with the divorce between the studies on urban planning prepared by economists, which attempt to explain existing urban patterns and indicate optimal solutions, and those of non-economists, which deal with political, sociological and cultural objectives, but often fail to consider how to meet those objectives most efficiently. After considering the results in three cities noted for success in urban regeneration, the paper offers guidelines for incorporating economics into urban and regional planning, drawing, to an extent, on behavioural economics. Five leading goals of urban regeneration are considered, namely: (1) improvement of the general liveability of a community, involving an increase in economic growth, though with several constraints or conditions; (2) transport and infrastructure improvement; (3) elimination of the worst signs of poverty in the community at large; (4) elimination of localised urban blight; and (5) subsidised construction of major sports arenas. The trade-offs between economic and non-economic factors are emphasised, along with the side or secondary effects that accompany all measures.

Keywords: Land use; transport; infrastructure; environmental concerns; income distribution; social programmes; quality of urban life (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: R00 Z33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://hstalks.com/article/342/download/ (application/pdf)
https://hstalks.com/article/342/ (text/html)
Requires a paid subscription for full access.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aza:jurr00:y:2015:v:8:i:3:p:280-300

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Journal of Urban Regeneration and Renewal from Henry Stewart Publications
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Henry Stewart Talks ().