Residential Subdivision Research Articles

The cross-level impact of landscape patterns on housing premiums in micro-neighborhoods

This paper attempts to examine the impacts of the spatial structure of landscape on housing premiums in Austin, TX through the years of 2009–2011. Dissimilar to previous studies, this paper highlighted three points. First, landscape patterns was observed—not only the composition but also the configuration in terms of shape, fragmentation, isolation, and connectivity. Second, the definition of neighborhood in this study was closely matched to the nature of a residential neighborhood, which was represented by a residential subdivision that has a name and a high level of homogeneous characteristics (i.e., development age, appraised value, lot size, and housing size). This approach specifically helps understand the impact of landscape configuration at the micro-level neighborhoods. Third, the hierarchical nature of neighborhoods and embedded parcels—nested parcels within the same neighborhood posit a certain level of identity as a whole—was given attention so that multi-level modeling could be employed. Conceptually and theoretically, multi-level modeling is a better approach to examine phenomenon that occur in multi-level units that show a clear hierarchy. The findings indicated that home buyers are willing to pay more to live in neighborhoods with the high ratio of tree cover. This is a finding consistent with previous studies. Meanwhile, the detailed spatial configuration of landscape does not play an important role at the residential neighborhood level. This result urges policy makers to be more scale-sensitive when planning landscape and indicates that micro neighborhoods are not the correct spatial level to discuss the spatial configuration of landscape, greenways, and green network.

Price Based Land Use Policy and Development Density: Impacts on Urban Land Use

Property taxes and zoning restrictions are prevalent tools for managing urban land use. In this paper, we combine micro-level data on residential subdivision development from a three-county region in the Baltimore, Maryland metro from 1994-2007 with an IV competing risks model to examine how both policies influence the density and timing of residential development outcomes. Consistent with theory, we demonstrate that the impact of both policies on optimal density and timing depends on whether density and time are substitutes or complements in the profit function. Our results have important implications as they provide key empirical insights about how property taxes and zoning interact to influence development patterns within an urban landscape.

A fixed effects logit model of rural land conversion and zoning

We examine the effect that public facilities moratorium and minimum lot size zoning have on the conversion of rural land to residential subdivisions in fast-growing exurban areas using a natural experiment approach. Zoning ordinances are the most common growth control policy at the local level and are hypothesized to be one of the most important factors in determining the likelihood of residential development. We investigate the role of minimum lot size zoning by taking advantage of plausibly exogenous changes in zoning policies that altered the developable status of some rural land parcels in an exurban county of Ohio. A discrete-choice econometric model of land use conversion is estimated with a parcel-level temporal dataset, using conditional maximum likelihood estimation to account for the panel structure of the data and fixed effects to control for unobserved heterogeneity. Empirical evidence indicates that minimum lot size zoning has a negative effect on the likelihood of rural land conversion and that this effect is large in magnitude. Specifically, we find that a parcel that is subject to a minimum lot size zoning is between 4.4 and 6.4% less likely to be converted to residential land use. In comparison, results from a pooled model, in which the unobserved heterogeneity is left uncontrolled, suggest that minimum lot size zoning has a relatively small negative effect on the conversion probability of undeveloped land parcels. Thus, estimates that do not control for unobserved heterogeneity are likely biased toward zero.

VALUING OPEN SPACE IN A MARSHLAND ENVIRONMENT: DEVELOPMENT ALTERNATIVES FOR COASTAL GEORGIA

AbstractIn a coastal environment, open space can exist as land set aside by a real estate developer or as tidal marshland. In this article, we determine the relative values of both types of open spaces in a coastal county in Georgia using a spatial hedonic price framework. Results indicate that (1) there is a price premium associated with the marshlands and (2) developers have market incentives to incorporate more open space into their designs of residential subdivisions. Regarding marshlands, we also find that accessibility is an important variable that adds much more value to a property than just the proximity.

Optimal Secondary Distribution System Design Considering Rooftop Solar Photovoltaics

This study presents a new approach for optimally designing a secondary distribution system, taking into consideration the effect of prosumers owning rooftop solar photovoltaics in residential subdivisions. The methodology is presented and the optimization problem of secondary distribution system (SDS) design in the presence of prosumers is mathematically formulated. Moreover, numerical examples that consider houses of different types/sizes are introduced to exemplify the proposed approach.

Confronting Price Endogeneity in a Duration Model of Residential Subdivision Development

SummarySpatial equilibrium implies that distant factors are correlated with local prices through market mechanisms. Using this logic, we develop a novel approach for handling price endogeneity in land use models. We combine a control function approach with a duration model to identify the impact of prices in influencing land conversion. We find that failure to control for endogeneity results in large differences in elasticities. Specifically, we find an elasticity of 2.06 compared to 0.67 in a model without instrumentation. This difference is significant as it suggests that price‐based policies, such as ‘green taxes’, are likely more effective in altering development patterns than would be expected from a naïve estimation that ignores price endogeneity. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Adjusting NRCS Curve Number for Rainfall Durations Less Than 24 Hours

The primary use of the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) curve number (CN) is to compute total storm runoff based on total rainfall. The method was originally created to determine the mean daily depth of runoff during flood producing events on small agricultural watersheds. CN values were determined using daily rainfall and runoff data. Practically, it did not rain for 24 hours during many, perhaps most, of the events, but since the data were recorded as daily rainfall, 24 hours became the implicit duration for values input to the curve number runoff model. NRCS references do not specifically state the CN applies only to the 24-hour storm. Even so, it may be inferred from what is published that the standard CN applies to the 24 hour duration storm. Many methods and computer models used for the analysis and design of stormwater management systems incorporate the NRCS CN method. Because some designs and performance evaluations are based on rainfalls with durations less than 24 hours, there is the need for a method to modify CN values for shorter duration events. It goes against basic hydrologic principles if the same CN is used for storms of all durations. Not yet formally published, the NRCS recently developed a procedure to modify CN values for rainfall durations less than 24 hours. With encouragement from the NRCS, introducing that method to the engineering community is the goal for this paper. The impact of adjusted CN values was demonstrated by calculations comparing runoff depths computed with standard and duration modified CN values for rainfalls of 1, 2, 3, 6, 12, and 24 hour duration. The standard CN significantly under-predicted runoff depths compared to the duration modified CN values. The differences increased with shorter duration storms. The impact of adjusted CN values also was demonstrated during a forensic assessment of the performance of a stormwater detention pond in a residential subdivision. The pond was designed compliant with regulations to limit the post-development peak discharge rate at or below the pre-development peak runoff rate for 2- and 10-year frequency 24-hour design storm events. Even though the pond design met regulatory standards for 24-hour design storms, downstream flooding and sediment problems frequently occurred during short duration events. As part of the forensic study, runoff hydrographs were simulated for pre-development, construction phase, and post-development land use conditions for rainfalls of 1, 2, 3, 6, 12, and 24 hour duration. The simulation results for post development conditions showed successful pond performance for the 24-hour rainfall. However, the peak outflow rates for storms with durations less than 24-hours were greater than the 24-hour pre-development peak runoff rate. The simulation results emphasize pond design calculations and decisions should include pond performance for events with duration less than 24 hours and should use duration modified CN values. It is recommended controlling regulations specify design events such as the 2- and 10-year 24-hour rainfalls, but include a mandatory check of other events, such as the 1, 2, 3, 6 and 12 hour events. Prudent and ethical practice suggests pond design be upgraded for the critical rainfall event.

Additionality and Forest Conservation Regulation for Residential Development

We analyze the potential effects of a unique forest conservation regulation on residential development and assess the additionality in forest cover due to this regulation. We combine panel data on forest cover change from satellite imagery and parcel-level modeling on residential development, including residential subdivisions occurring before and after regulation adoption. Our results suggest that after the regulation, there was a 23% increase in forest cover within subdivisions relative to the amount without the regulation. The heterogeneous effects of this regulation suggest that forest cover increased on average for parcels with lower levels of existing forest cover. However, parcels with the highest levels of forest cover continue to have significant decreases in forest cover, despite the regulation, thereby resulting in fragmentation in regions with the most intact forest cover.

PM2.5 Chemical Composition Analysis in Different Functional Subdivisions in Tangshan, China

ABSTRACTIn this study, the 24-h PM2.5 (i.e., the fine particles with aerodynamic diameter of ≤ 2.5 µm) samples were collected at two different functional subdivisions in the city of Tangshan during the period of July 2012 to April 2013. The months of July, October, January, and April were chosen to represent four different typical seasons. The total PM2.5 mass was measured. PM2.5 samples were used for the analysis of inorganic elements, ions, Organic Carbon (OC) and Elemental Carbon (EC). PM2.5 concentration in the industrial subdivision were generally higher than those in the residential subdivision. The annual mean PM2.5 concentrations were 196 µg m–3 for the industrial subdivision and 116 µg m–3 for the residential subdivision. The coefficients of divergence (CD) calculated for spring, summer, autumn and winter were 0.67, 0.35, 0.65, and 0.33, respectively. The Enrichment Factor Method (EFM) was used to help determine the original sources of these inorganic elements. Secondary water-soluble ions (SO42–, NO3–, and NH4+) were the major water soluble ions in the PM2.5 of Tangshan, and they are present in the atmosphere as (NH4)2SO4 and NH4NO3. The Sulfur Oxidation Ratio (SOR) and Nitrogen Oxidation Ratio (NOR) show that the precursor conversion ratio was highest in summer. At both subdivisions, winter had the highest monthly average OM concentration while summer had the lowest.

The last great projects, 1890-1895

In 1890, Frederick Law Olmsted, then nearly sixty-eight years old, had risen to the pinnacle of his career. Together with his partners, stepson John Charles Olmsted and protege Henry Sargent Codman, he was involved in a number of major ongoing projects, including the Boston, Buffalo, and Rochester park systems, the campus plan for Stanford University, and numerous private estates. In July, he reported that the firm had twenty works of considerable importance underway, including nine large parks and six estates that he believed were matters of public interest. Before the summer ended, the firm's commitments would expand dramatically as Olmsted and his partners were appointed landscape architects for the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. As commissions for new park systems, residential communities, grounds for educational institutions, and private homes increased, Olmsted feared that their commitments would exceed the partners' ability to do their best work. Despite these fears, Olmsted's work in the final six years of his professional career would only enhance his considerable reputation, as the ninth and final volume of The Papers of Frederick Law Olmsted reveals. With its impressive waterways, monumental buildings, and verdant islands and shores, the Chicago fair proved to be one of the firm's crowning achievements. The early 1890s also saw the culmination of Olmsted's wide-ranging work on one of his other great projects: the design of the grounds of George W. Vanderbilt's massive estate, Biltmore, near Asheville, North Carolina. In planning the estate's thousands of acres, Olmsted outlined new approaches to landscape design, promoted the creation of the first scientific forestry operation in the United States, designed a model residential subdivision, and proposed an arboretum that would have been the most ambitious in the nation. The Last Great Projects, 1890-1895, chronicles the history of one of the world's greatest landscape design firms while offering a fascinating retrospective on Frederick Law Olmsted's productive final years. The volume also gathers together the important documents of this last triumphant era. As Olmsted neared the end of his career, he wrote some of his most reflective letters and reports, summarizing the legacy of his involvement with the U.S. Sanitary Commission, the quality of landscape design in England and France, the biographical circumstances that proved most important to his development as an artist, and his hopes and fears for the future of his profession.

Runoff and Pollutant Export from a LID Subdivision in North Carolina

AbstractStorm rainfall on and runoff from a 3.35-ha low-impact development (LID) residential subdivision in the Piedmont region of North Carolina were monitored for 6+ years, which included predevelopment, during-development, and postdevelopment phases. Runoff was monitored and sampled at two stations using automated samplers. Along with residences, the drainage area to one of the stations (PC1) included an undisturbed wooded riparian buffer with level spreaders to distribute runoff, while the area to the other station (PC2) included four bioretention areas, permeable pavement, a roof runoff collection system, a detention pond, and other LID measures. Monitoring results documented that the postdevelopment, runoff to rainfall ratio, and pollutant export at both stations were significantly greater than those of the predevelopment phase, during which time the land use on the site was mature woods. The total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), and total suspended solids (TSS) export at both LID monitoring s...

Operational thermal remote sensing and lava flow monitoring at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory

Abstract Hawaiian volcanoes are highly accessible and well monitored by ground instruments. Nevertheless, observational gaps remain and thermal satellite imagery has proven useful in Hawai‘i for providing synoptic views of activity during intervals between field visits. Here we describe the beginning of a thermal remote sensing programme at the US Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO). Whereas expensive receiving stations have been traditionally required to achieve rapid downloading of satellite data, we exploit free, low-latency data sources on the internet for timely access to GOES, MODIS, ASTER and EO-1 ALI imagery. Automated scripts at the observatory download these data and provide a basic display of the images. Satellite data have been extremely useful for monitoring the ongoing lava flow activity on Kīlauea's East Rift Zone at Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō over the past few years. A recent lava flow, named Kahauale‘a 2, was upslope from residential subdivisions for over a year. Satellite data helped track the slow advance of the flow and contributed to hazard assessments. Ongoing improvement to thermal remote sensing at HVO incorporates automated hotspot detection, effusion rate estimation and lava flow forecasting, as has been done in Italy. These improvements should be useful for monitoring future activity on Mauna Loa.

Gated Community Premiums and Amenity Differentials in Residential Subdivisions

We use hedonic models to examine price differences between single-family homes in gated communities and a matched sample in non-gated communities in Shelby County, Tennessee. Controlling for idiosyncratic attributes, we find that homes in gated communities carry significant price premiums relative to similar homes in non-gated communities. Price premiums are highest for medium-size gated communities. Premiums were also evident in higher priced gated communities before 2008 but vanished after the financial crisis. Gated communities offer homeowners additional attributes but usually have higher infrastructure and service costs. Thus price premiums result from net gated community benefits.

The Residential Subdivision under the Influence of the Unfinished Densification (Case Study for Subdivisions in Setif, Algeria)

Today, it is necessary to be thrifty for its planet, on one hand the space being a rare, non-renewable resource, and on the other hand the ecological, economic and social cost of the urban sprawl. It is commonly asserted that the promotion of a more compact and dense city has a positive effect in terms of public costs of investment, functioning and costs for the citizens and the users of the city. It is clear that the modes of urban development management have to evolve profoundly, in particular towards a densification favorable to the raising of the urban quality through an ideal urban density on the scale of the individual housing estate. The lot as an individual housing estate was adopted as an alternative development model to the collective housing, thought in an anthropocentric perspective to emerge as a quality model where the density plays an important role, by being included in operations of a global coherence, in an optimal organization without forgetting the main importance of the deadlines of construction and the finalization of the works. The image of eternal construction site inflicted to our cities explains the renewed interest for the application of the regulatory framework and the completion of these limited operations without global coherence, which are summed up in our case to a ground cut in plots of land, sold then built independently without being finished, and support the relevance of the essential question of the improvement of the outside aspect bound to the appearance which can be revealed as a so important factor for a better use and a better acceptance of its housing environment, that the ratio of a number of houses on a plot of land or the number of square meters by house. To demonstrate the impact of the completion degree of the subdivision dwellings, roads system and urban public utilities on the density or the densification and therefore on the urban quality, we studied two residential subdivisions, the private subdivision Sellam and the subdivision El Imane with a common situation, and a different land surface, density and cutting, being occupied by various social classes, with different needs and different household average size. The approach of this work is based on the typo morphological analysis to reveal the differences in the degrees of completions of the subdivision’s built environment and on the investigation, by a household’s survey, to demonstrate importance of the degree of completion and to reveal the conditions of qualitative densification favorable and convenient to a better subdivision’s appropriation. Keywords: Subdivision, Degree of completion, Densification, Urban Quality.

Suburban Land Development in Antebellum Boston

Historians generally agree that American suburbanization began in the first quarter of the nineteenth century, brought on by a combination of technological innovation (particularly in transportation), economic restructuring, and changing tastes of the urban middle classes. Essential to this process was the rise of a suburban real estate industry, which converted agricultural land into a consumer commodity. Using a microhistorical study of a single farm in the Boston suburb of Brookline, Massachusetts, the origins of the process of suburban land development are examined from 1770 to 1850. Land records, local history, and genealogical information were used to reconstruct the process by which farm land became the site of suburban neighborhoods. Before 1840, when nearly all land transactions were between individuals who knew each other personally, there was no infrastructure of real estate professionals and developers to facilitate suburban growth. During the 1840s, sales between strangers, facilitated by agents or auctioneers, quickly became the norm, and residential subdivisions aimed at varying income levels appeared, accompanied by developers and builders. Land went from being the essential component of family farming to a general commodity freely bought and sold, part of the broader evolution of the American economy into one dominated by market-based industrial and financial capitalism.

Confronting Price Endogeneity in a Duration Model of Residential Subdivision Development

Spatial equilibrium in housing markets implies that distant factors are correlated with prices in specific (focal) neighborhoods through market mechanisms. Using this logic, we develop a novel approach for handling price endogeneity in a reduced-form land use model. We combine a control function approach with a duration model of optimal land development to shed light on the role of price and supply-side factors that influence subdivision development at a micro level. We find that failure to control for endogeneity results in large differences in estimates of residential land supply price elasticities. Specifically, we find an elasticity of 2.06 compared to 0.67 in a model that ignores endogeneity.

Time is money: An empirical examination of the effects of regulatory delay on residential subdivision development

Variation in regulatory costs over time and across different types of investment projects creates risk for developers who hold land. These so-called implicit costs, which arise as a result of regulatory delay in the land development process, are hypothesized to be potentially large, but empirical evidence of their influence on development outcomes is limited. Using a unique micro-level data set on parcel-level subdivision development that includes data on the timing of subdivision approvals, we test the effects of implicit costs that arise as a result of increased subdivision approval times on the timing and pattern of residential subdivision development. Consistent with theory, we find that these regulation-induced implicit costs reduce the probability of subdivision development on any given parcel. In addition, we find that systematic variation in regulation-induced implicit costs across space has reduced development in more heavily regulated urbanized areas intended for development and intensified development in less regulated exurban areas located farther away. The results provide a new explanation of scattered, low-density urban development as the result of optimal land development with multiple development options and heterogeneous regulatory costs.

Tauroa residential subdivision

The Tauroa residential subdivision is situated in the hills of southern Havelock North in Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand. The development proposal includes removal of a moderately deep (<10 m) landslide and its replacement with an engineered fill slope. A simplified “screening analysis” method was utilised to develop reduced equivalent horizontal seismic loads for use in a pseudo-static slope stability assessment of the proposed remedial engineered fill slope. This risk-based method allows limited slope deformations to occur as a result of the design seismic event, with the magnitudes of the allowable slope deformations set in accordance with the tolerance level of the proposed development.

Time is Money: An Empirical Examination of the Effects of Regulatory Delay on Residential Subdivision Development

Variation in regulatory costs over time and across different types of investment projects creates risk for developers who hold land. These so-called implicit costs, which arise as a result of regulatory delay in the land development process, are hypothesized to be potentially large, but empirical evidence of their influence on development outcomes is limited. Using a unique micro-level data set on parcel-level subdivision development that includes data on the timing of subdivision approvals, we test the effects of implicit costs that arise as a result of increased subdivision approval times on the timing and pattern of residential subdivision development. Consistent with theory, we find that these regulation-induced implicit costs reduce the probability of subdivision development on any given parcel. In addition, we find that systematic variation in regulation-induced implicit costs across space has reduced development in more heavily regulated urbanized areas intended for development and intensified development in less regulated exurban areas located farther away. The results provide a new explanation of scattered, low-density urban development as the result of optimal land development with multiple development options and heterogeneous regulatory costs.

O Programa Minha Casa Minha Vida e seus resultados formais em Uberaba (MG): residencial Tancredo Neves

<p>Este artigo propõe a discussão do Programa Minha Casa Minha Vida, suas consequências e transformações cíclicas no espaço urbano, com foco na análise da morfologia urbana resultante do loteamento residencial Tancredo Neves, localizado no município de Uberaba (MG). O mesmo possui algumas características únicas, diferenciando-se dos demais conjuntos, desde o público até a utilização imprópria da Área de Preservação Permanente (APP) por parte dos moradores. Os resultados obtidos por esta análise reforçam a importância do poder público na promoção da habitação, identifica a recorrente reprodutibilidade de modelos habitacionais, além de mostrar como essa proliferação de unidades habitacionais impacta a morfologia urbana, trazendo consigo questionáveis consequências para a paisagem.</p>