Urban areas possess complex spatial configurations. These patterns are produced by cumulative changes in land use and land cover as human and natural environments are influenced by markets forces, policy, and changes in the natural landscape. To understand the mechanisms underlying these complex...

We investigate whether residential development patterns from a rapidly growing exurban area are consistent with the urban economic model's predictions of leapfrog and infill development. Using historical data on subdivision development from 1960-2005 in the Baltimore, Maryland region, we develop...

Variation in regulatory costs over time and across different types of investment projects creates risk for developers who hold land. These so-called implicit costs, which arise as a result of regulatory delay in the land development process, are hypothesized to be potentially large, but...