URP_ 4223
URBAN AND REGIONAL ECONOMICS
Lecture 6: Industrial Suburbanization Process
Suburbanization of Population
Dr. Md. Manjur Morshed, Assistant Professor
Department of Urban and Regional Planning
Khulna University of Engineering and Technology
SUBURBANIZATION OF MANUFACTURING
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Step-1:
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Until early twentieth centuries, freight was shipped by horsedrawn wagons
Starting about 1990, manufacturers switched from the horse
wagon to the truck (faster and cheaper)
What happens when transportation cost cheaper?
Tension between: manufacturing is pulled in the central
districts (low freight cost but high labor/employment cost), but
low wage pulls towards the suburban locations
The intercity truck decreased freight cost, weakening the pull
toward the central export node
How did the intracity truck affect the bid-rent function of
manufacturers?
SUBURBANIZATION OF MANUFACTURING
Step-2: Introduction of intracity truck
Bid-rent function with horse-drawn wagon
Bid-rent function with truck
Land Rent
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Residential bid-rent function
km
SUBURBANIZATION OF MANUFACTURING
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Step-2: Introduction of intracity truck
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Manufacturers started using the truck for intercity transport
Long distance travel feasible, and the expansion of intercity
high-way facilitated intercity truck traffic
The bid-rent for manufacturing land at different locations in a
beltway city
Manufacturers are likely to outbid other land users for land
near the suburban beltway
SUBURBANIZATION OF MANUFACTURING
Step-3: Different Bid-rent Curve for Manufacturing
Business Bid Rent
Land Rent
Residential Bid Rent
Agriculture
2
8
km
10
Business Bid Rent
Residential Bid Rent
Land Rent
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Manufacturing
Agriculture
2
4
6
km
SUBURBANIZATION OF POPULATION
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Definition:
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Percentage change in population density per mile/km
Flattening of density function over time is a worldwide
phenomenon
Density function is the relationship between the population
density and distance from the central city
SUBURBANIZATION OF POPULATION
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Five Possible Reasons of Suburbanization:
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1. Increase in real income – increase in commuting cost/land
consumption (not sure)
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2. Decrease in commuting cost – less time and money to
travel to the city center
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3. Central city problems – old housing, race and income,
central city fiscal problems, crime, education
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4. Following firms to the suburbs – shift of manufacturing
industries to suburb encourages people to move to suburb
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5. Public policy and suburbanization – subsidies for
homeownership, commuting externalities, fragmented system
of local government, highway construction, etc.
POST SUB-URBANIZATION MOVEMENT
Smart Growth
 Urban Renewal
 Gentrification
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9
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Thank you