Urban Studies

The financing of urban public infrastructure is becoming increasingly problematical in a world of high real interest rates and stringent fiscal constraints. In many countries public authorities are turning (or returning) to different ways of financing local needs. These include extensions of user-pricing and widespread reliance on earmarked taxes and up-front capital contributions by land developers, as well as joint capital participation with private interests. Issues of equity and legality are of increasing concern. While the earmarking of funds can improve efficiency, flexibility is reduced; and there are risks of intergenerational and horizontal inequity. But the need for innovative approaches to finance has one major advantage, that it is encouraging public authorities to demonstrate more clearly the nexus between the benefits that How from new infrastructure and the incidence of cost.

The price of land in Honolulu is higher than in any other major US urban area. This paper examines several determinants of the supply and demand for land and discusses their likely influence on Honolulu's land price. It utilises comparisons between demand and supply conditions in Honolulu and in the forty most populous US urban areas to ascertain the strength of the respective determinants. The regression results confirm that natural and institutional constraints restricting the supply of land play an important role in determining price in Honolulu and in the forty-city sample.

This paper uses commuting times and distance data from the Nationwide Personal Transportation Studies of 1977 to 1983-4 to re-evaluate the spatial mismatch hypothesis. Neither minorities nor low-income workers have longer commutes. In fact, their commuting patterns are very similar to those of workers in general. This also implies that minorities are not constrained by income or housing to live closer to work. However, women consistently have shorter worktrips. The spatial mismatch hypothesis receives no support from examination of commuting data.

This paper reports on a study of the Bangkok land and housing market. The study is based on extensive surveys of projects, developers, households, and the interpretation of aerial photographic information. The results of the study indicate that Bangkok's land and housing markets are operating very efficiently, with the formal private sector providing 27 per cent of the total housing stock increase between 1974 and 1984. The region's supply of developable land with roadway access increased by over 20 per cent between 1974 and 1984. As a result, land values have not increased substantially in real terms and overall housing affordability improved between 1982 and 1986. The Bangkok study is important for housing policy makers because it provides a profile of a well-performing land and housing market.

The essay reviews developments of the Core-Periphery paradigm. Two variants of the paradigm are isolated. Both variants define core-periphery relations by three features: characteristics distinguishing core from periphery, the goods exchanged, and the nature of the exchange and the pattern of core-periphery relations. These features form the explanatory variables in the examination of three central problems in social science: the rise of the state, the development of imperialism and colonialism and regional social movements. However, the distinguishing feature of core-periphery analysis is the spatial representation of these dynamics. Yet spatial representations in core-periphery paradigms are latent and poorly developed. Several alternative spatial representations are more effective in displaying core-periphery dynamics, permitting simpler assumptions, introducing temporal dynamics and multi-linear models.

This paper analyses costs to workers arising from off-peak work schedules. A discrete model of joint travel mode/work-start time choice is estimated using survey data from Singapore. The model indicates that the cost of adjusting one's work-start time δ time units away from the peak starting time is comparable to the cost of one's trip being extended by δ units. The results of this model indicate that transportation projects, such as increases in road capacity, which may not reduce congestion levels may be beneficial if workers are able to adjust their work-start times toward the peak starting time.