Recent Land-Use Trends in Forty-Eight Large American Cities

Abstract

Abstract : An examination of changes in the proportions of various types of land in urban use shows that vacant land in the larger American cities is rapidly disappearing. Net land-use densities are declining for population and manufacturing employment; commercial employment densities appear to be approximately constant. Consequent ly, unless large amounts of vacant land exist inside the city limits, the average large city appears to have nearly reached its upper limits of population and employment in manufacturing and commerce. A full set of the land-use, popula tion, and employment data utilized in the ana lytical part of this paper are included in the appendixes. The land-use data were collected from the city planning commissions of 48 cities, and both employment and population data are estimates made by the authors. To their knowl edge this is the most complete set of city land use, population, and employment data available in a single publication. Consequently, this Memorandum should be of considerable interest to city planners, regional scientists, and others interested in urban problems. (Author)