A sport-anchored development district and densification: A comparative mixed effects analysis

Abstract

This study examines the redistribution of the wealth density within a Canadian city through efforts to enhance areas near its downtown. To respond to the growing concentration of wealth in suburban areas, Edmonton, Alberta created three different tax increment districts, including one anchored by an arena. The proximity of three different initiatives in the same city permits the control of many factors that influence property values, which was one of the measures of wealth used in this study. Spatial analytics permit an analysis of changing values and development within a web of geographic cells in three different tax increment districts and suburban neighborhoods between 2012 and 2020. The growth in wealth as measured by property valuations and the number of property accounts in the tax increment district anchored by the new arena surpassed those in the other tax increment districts and in the city’s suburban areas. The analysis supports the observation that there was an important level of wealth densification in and near the downtown area.