Urban Land-Use Planning and Environmental Pollution

This paper presents a linear-programming model for the formulation of a joint policy for land use and environmental pollution. The theoretical framework is an extension of the residential-location model originally suggested by Herbert and Stevens (1960). Environmental policy is introduced by setting environmental standards which can be spatially differentiated. According to the characteristics of the diffusion process and of the discharge location of the residuals into the environment, these standards can be expressed as the permissible concentration of pollutants, the total allowable pollutant emission, or the required treatment of the residuals. The model considers the locational choice of the various urban activities as well as the available technological alternatives for residual treatment. In the analysis of the dual it is shown that a policy which uses environmental standards can efficiently be implemented by using a system of emission or pollution licenses, performance standards, and zoning restrictions.