Amenities and disamenities: a hedonic analysis of the heterogeneous urban landscape in Shenzhen (China)

Abstract

Landscape amenities and disamenities are important factors for households in making residence decision. This study presents a hedonic analysis of the amenity and disamenity effects arising from the heterogeneous urban landscape in a Chinese city. The sample is composed of 358 apartment characteristics and transaction data collected directly from home owners in the central built‐up area of Shenzhen. Four types of urban landscapes were included, namely urban parks, residential gardens, Shenzhen Bay, and urban villages. We applied a three‐dimensional model (availability, accessibility, and visibility) to estimate the amenity–disamenity effects of these urban landscape features. The results indicated that residential gardens were the most attractive landscape (an average increase of 17.2% of housing price) and urban villages had disamenity effects (a decrease of 3.72% for visibility and 2.5% for availability). The visibility of landscape was more valued than the accessibility. The lower weight accorded to the availability variable suggested: both benefits and possible negative impacts related to urban parks and Shenzhen Bay could be embodied in home buyers' behaviour; and the unavoidability of urban villages. The findings could provide insights to the location and design of residential areas vis‐à‐vis amenity–disamenity landscape features in Chinese cities that are rapidly expanding and redeveloping.