Multi-peaked Urban Land Values: City of Akron Case

Using 1977 data for the City of Akron, this paper examines the spatial relationships between assessed land value and selected variables, including distance from the Central Business District (CBD). A simple correlation analysis demonstrates a very weak inverse relationship between land value and distance. The inverse relationship between commercial land value and distance is only relatively stronger than other relationships, while in the case of residential land value, the relationship is positive. The results from a stepwise multiple regression also suggest that distance from CBD cannot predict urban land value. Land use category, intensity of use, and lot size were identified as important variables influencing land value, but not strong predictors. While analyzing the residuals from regression, the study demonstrated marked regional differences in the relationships and confirmed them through separate sectoral analysis. Suburbanization and the development of multiple centers led to significant changes in the distance — land value relationship, producing a multi-peaked land value surface with higher residential land values in the periphery. OHIOJ. SCI. 82(3): 114, 1982 INTRODUCTION Classical theories of land economics assert that accessibility of sites with respect to different land uses distributed throughout a city is the most important basis of urban land value differences (Alonso 1968). Although variations in aesthetic qualities and geological characteristics would account for some value differences, if there were no differences in accessibility among sites, all land would have essentially the same locational value. Based on the notion that the CBD contains the point of minimum aggregate travel, accessibility within an urban land market is at maximum at the CBD; and hence, assuming a competitive market and homogeneous sites, land values are expected to be higher in this central area. Theorists argue that as distance from the CBD increases, accessibility decreases causing decline in land 'Manuscript received 26 May 1981 and in revised form 14 December 1981 (#81-21). value (Haig 1926, Alonso I960, Hoyt 1960, Seyfried 1963, Mills 1969). During the past few decades, the interests of the competitive forces in the land market and the increasing need for planning and zoning have warranted intensive study of spatial distribution of land values in urban areas. The postulated inverse relationship between land value and distance from the CBD has been generally verified in past studies. The works by Hoyt (1933) on Chicago, Illinois, and Knos (1968) on Topeka, Kansas, are classic examples of empirical studies that emphasized the centrality of land value. Similar relationships have also been discovered in some Third World cities (Withington et al. 1975, Khan 1976, Noble et al. 1979). However, the Central Business District is but one, albeit the largest, of a number of commercial areas in a city. If land values are higher towards the peak land value intersection (PLVI) of the CBD, they should also rise towards the other commercial areas. Berry (1963) illustrated this idea