Urban Spatial Structure, Transport-Related Emissions and Welfare

Abstract

In this paper, we study the effects of urban design on pollution and welfare. We build a theoretical model of residential choices with pollution externalities arising from commuting, where the size of the central business district (CBD) and the demand for housing are endogenous. We show that a polycentric city is desirable from welfare and ecological perspective, provided that travel speed and/or the number of roads directly connected with the CBD are sufficiently high. The spatial extension of cities remains the critical variable to curb transport-related urban pollution.

Taxes, Traffic Jam and Spillover in the Metropolis

“…Formal modeling of air pollution induced by commuting is very close to our proposed modeling of trac congestion (see e.g. Denant-Boèmont et al, 2018). Besides, a previous version of this paper (Ly, 2018b) considers the case of negative agglomeration externalities from public good congestion induced by commuters and provides ndings in line with those in the present paper.…”