European Regional Science Association
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European Regional Science Association
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The abstract for paper number 260:
Ron Vreeker, Department of Spatial Economics
Free University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Evaluation of multifunctional land use; methodology and application
Land has become an increasingly scarce resource in many countries, as a result of population growth, a rise in space consumption per capita for residential and leisure purposes, and the increase in land used for business purposes. A sustainable, efficient use of land may often demand a careful assessment and evaluation of all feasible options to accommodate the desires of citizens and firms.
Land use has been a focal point of attention in traditional urban economic analysis, where rent gradients form a main analytical instrument that was used to assess where socio-economic activities would take place, following the von Thünen land rent theory. In its simple form, this theory describes a monofunctional segmentation of urban land. Urban land use has various characteristics that may invalidate the traditional geographical land use patterns emerging from this theory. In addition to negative externalities, which have the form of unpaid social costs (e.g., environmental externalities of transport in a dispersed spatial-economic system), there are also foregone benefits as the result of the spatial segmentation of economically complementary functions. By designing a different spatial layout, based on integration of spatial-economic activities and functions in an area (often accompanied by a higher density of such activities), major agglomeration advantages between different functions might be achieved. Examples are: combined buildings for shopping Examples are: combined buildings for shopping facilities and leisure activities, a mixed use of public transport terminals as transport nodes and commercial areas, and so forth. Applying such a new perspective on urban land use might increase spatial quality inside and outside the city. The planning principle underlying a new urban design based on merging different functions has been multifunctional land use.
The aim of this paper is the development of an evaluation framework for consequences of multifunctional land use. The basic idea is that a spatial blend of many functions should have measurable (economic, social, environmental) benefits in order to warrant such a geographic concentration. Besides many benefits, multifunctional land use has also disadvantages in the form of, for example, higher construction costs, environmental impacts, and increased safety concerns. Furthermore, these effects can be partly monetary, partly non-monetary, quantitative, qualitative or even intangible in nature. The designed evaluation framework should be able to take all aspects mentioned above into consideration.
Although multifunctional land use is a valid option in rural areas, it is a research topic in itself. In this paper the focus will be on the possibilities and consequences of multifunctional land use in urban areas. Therefore, attention is paid to the role multifunctional land use can play in urban development and urban redevelopment processes.
The above-mentioned advantages, disadvantages and application fields of multifunctional land use are just a few examples. The proposed evaluation framework and techniques should be able to capture and weigh all the costs and benefits associated with multifunctional land use. This framework should not only be useful in evaluating various mlu alternatives within a project, but is should also be able to indicate whether mlu is a valid option or that monofunctional solutions are preferable. Application of the evaluation tools might point us at shortcomings of the tools in capturing all the consequences related to multifunctional land use. Therefore, the proposed evaluation framework will be tested by means of a case study.
Unfortunately full paper has not been submitted.