 Persistence in urban form: The long-run durability of employment centers in metropolitan areasChristian L. Redfearn Regional Science and Urban Economics, 2009, vol. 39, issue 2, 224-232 Abstract: This paper documents a marked persistence in the spatial distribution of employment in the Los Angeles Metropolitan Area. Over a medium-term of twenty years -- a period of pronounced growth and change in the region's employment and population -- lagged employment density dominates access variables in explaining levels and ranks of current employment density. Similarly, the probability that a tract is located within a current employment center is largely a function of past membership rather than proximity to highways or the central business district. Moreover, longer-term persistence is also readily apparent: concentrations of employment a century ago explain the current distribution of employment as well as access to the modern highway system. This stability in the location of employment and employment concentrations over medium- and longer-terms suggests important roles for agglomeration, adjustment costs, and the durability of fixed investment in modeling the evolution of metropolitan areas. Keywords: Persistence; Urban; form; Spatial; distribution; of; employment; Fixed-investment (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:regeco:v:39:y:2009:i:2:p:224-232 Access Statistics for this article Regional Science and Urban Economics is currently edited by D.P McMillen and Y. Zenou More articles in Regional Science and Urban Economics from Elsevier |
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