The real estate industry has posited that 24-hour cities provide superior risk-adjusted returns. This thesis examines that claim rigorously for the first time. Urban characteristics are related to literature in urban history, planning theory, and economic geography. An operational definition of the 24-hour city based on empirical data is specified. 24-hour and 9-to-5 cities are evaluated by the operational definition, and by K-means Cluster Analysis. 24-hour cities are found to have higher city densities, greater use of mass transit and walk-to-work commutation, higher percentages of late night automobile traffic, more 24-hour drug stores, lower crime rates, and higher measures of regional distinctiveness. Superior performance is observed in inflation-adjusted office rents, occupancy, and risk-adjusted return on office investment for 1987 - 2009, at the 0.01 level of statistical significance. A multivariate regression of urban attributes on CBD office building prices also finds significance at the 0.01 level. Survey data and expert interviews provide new detail on industry desiderata. 24-hour cities can be considered exceptions to the standard Alonso-Mills-Muth urban spatial model. An anentropic model based on complexity theory (requiring development) , may better explain emergent self-organisation as displayed in those cities.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:550786 |
| Date | January 2011 |
| Creators | Kelly, Hugh F. |
| Publisher | University of Ulster |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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