The influence of urban sprawl on farmland prices in Belgium

Since over half a century, Europe has been undergoing periurbanization; this phenomenon is similar to suburbanisation or ìurban sprawlî in the U.S. Hence, for each plot of land, there is competition for land use (agriculture, urbanisation). We here study the effect of urban sprawl on the price of farmland in Belgium. Using a set of very traditional urban economics variables, we show that the determinants of residential prices also explain the spatial variation of farmland. Indeed, the prospect of conversion from agriculture to residential land uses are high in Belgium, which is a densely inhab... Mehr ...

Verfasser: Cavailhés, Jean
Thomas, Isabelle
Dokumenttyp: doc-type:conferenceObject
Erscheinungsdatum: 2010
Verlag/Hrsg.: Louvain-la-Neuve: European Regional Science Association (ERSA)
Schlagwörter: ddc:330 / Q1 / R1 / land market / farmland / periurbanization / Belgium
Sprache: Englisch
Permalink: https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-28530045
Datenquelle: BASE; Originalkatalog
Powered By: BASE
Link(s) : http://hdl.handle.net/10419/119283

Since over half a century, Europe has been undergoing periurbanization; this phenomenon is similar to suburbanisation or ìurban sprawlî in the U.S. Hence, for each plot of land, there is competition for land use (agriculture, urbanisation). We here study the effect of urban sprawl on the price of farmland in Belgium. Using a set of very traditional urban economics variables, we show that the determinants of residential prices also explain the spatial variation of farmland. Indeed, the prospect of conversion from agriculture to residential land uses are high in Belgium, which is a densely inhabited country characterized by a tight urban network and where, moreover, land zoning is permissive. Therefore, urban sprawl largely dominates residential choice since over 40 years leading to fragmented landscapes where agriculture coexists with housing. We here use the Capozza & Hesley (1989) model that was recently developed by Plantinga & Miller (2001) and Cavailhés & Wavresky (2003). This model aims at analyzing urban growth from a microeconomic point of view, where agricultural land is converted in residential plot. Until conversion, the price of farmland is equal to the capitalization of the agricultural land rent; after conversion it is equal to the capitalization of the residential rent. It basically depends upon the commuting distance and the anticipated date of conversion (other determinants are also discussed: Ricardian land fertility, number of inhabitants of the township, income, border effects leading to discontinuities, etc.) A hedonic log-linear equation is used where spatial autocorrelation is controlled by Anselinsí method (1988) and the multicollinearity (if any) by partial least squares (PLS). The same econometric equation is estimated for both developable and agricultural land price. Data were aggregated at the level of the 589 municipalities and made available for an 11 years period (1995-2005). Data are mainly provided by the Belgian National Institute of Statistics (SPF …conomie - ...