Does industrial land sprawl matter in land productivity? A case study of industrial parks of South Korea

Abstract

Despite an enormous amount of research on the urban sprawl of residential and commercial land uses, little attention has been paid to the negative effects of the sprawl of industrial land development. Furthermore, there is increasing interest in industrial land productivity or efficiency of land use, which is emphasized in terms of preventing sprawl, but so far, there is no clear evidence about the “sprawl–land productivity” relationship.This study aims to understand whether and how industrial park sprawl is associated with land productivity, paying a special attention to a locational factor represented by the “sprawl index.” For methodology, we applied annual sprawl index for 697 industrial parks in South Korea from 2011 to 2020 using a modified gravity model, and conducted a panel regression model to estimate main factors affecting the land productivity of industrial parks. We also conducted specific panel regression models to examine how the influencing factors of land productivity vary by types of industrial parks.The results of the panel regression models indicate that industrial land developments with sprawled locations are negatively associated with land productivity, regardless of the types of industrial park. We also find that the age of industrial park, the designated area, industrial compositions, land sales rate, large metro cities, and the Seoul metropolitan area are positively associated with land productivity, while the number of firms in an industrial park and the distance to transportation services are negatively associated. The study provides a strong basis for improving land use policies to promote land productivity by preventing future sprawl of industrial lands and by facilitating sustainable and regenerative use of the existing industrial parks.