Location and History as Determinants of Urban Residential Density

Abstract

Dynamic models of urban residential location have been widely used in recent years to explain spatial patterns of urban development and residential density. However, there has been little empirical evidence of their superiority in accounting for observed density patterns compared with long-run equilibrium location models or pure historical models that ignore the influence of location as a determinant of density. The test developed and applied in this paper demonstrates the superior explanatory power of dynamic models and yields plausible estimates of changes over time in equilibrium densities.