ECONOMICS

Urban Economics

Urban Economics

Introduction

It is a widely acknowledged fact that land and economics go hand-in-hand. What is not known is how the use of land can impact regional economy. In urban economics, the interactions between land use and regional economies have been understood from a top down viewpoint. This means economic growth and structural have a noteworthy impact on the use of land. This goes to represent a lack of acknowledgement of the bottom up approach and can hamper decision making in urban economics. It also has the potential to lead to conflicts in land usage patterns and development of the economy. Thus we come to two major questions in this regard;

Does regulation or planning of land contribute to the region's economic development?

Does it leave any barriers to development, consequently slowing the pace of economic growth?

We must keep in mind that the purpose of land usage or planning is not to create any form of benefits for the economy. It sole objective is to reduce the amount of environmental threat and address socio-political issues in the region. Intervening in land usage patterns will in no way contribute to economic development (Balchin et al, 1995, pp. 101).

Since different strands of research attempt to probe different causal links between land use and regional economies, a broad range of literature needs to be reviewed, and a broad-brush approach needs to be adopted to thoroughly understand how government actions in land use influence the performance of regional economies. Thus, this review tries to provide a synthesis of various studies from which ''bottom up'' causal links can be inferred. Covering a variety of studies inevitably results in a somewhat incomplete explanation of each research and the exclusion of some studies that deserve recognition. The focus of this article will be on research findings and implications ...