IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/urbstu/v44y2007i3p591-607.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Determining Optimal Building Height

Author

Listed:
  • Kwong-Wing Chau

    (Department of Real Estate and Construction, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, hrrbckw@hku.hk)

  • S.K. Wong

    (Department of Real Estate and Construction, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, sk-wongb@hku.hk)

  • Y. Yau

    (Department of Real Estate and Construction, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, simonyau@hkusua.hk)

  • A.K.C. Yeung

    (Department of Real Estate and Construction, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, matsu@hkusua.hk)

Abstract

The paper examines how building height is determined in the absence of building height regulatory restrictions. A model is developed for determining optimal height using simple neo-classical economic analysis; this is then tested using empirical data from Hong Kong. The results show that the observed building heights are consistent with the optimal height predicted by the model. In addition, it was also found that the point of optimality varied positively with the quality of the external environment. An important practical implication is that town planners and policy-makers can make use of the model as a benchmarking tool to assess and quantify the effect of imposing or relaxing height restrictions.

Suggested Citation

  • Kwong-Wing Chau & S.K. Wong & Y. Yau & A.K.C. Yeung, 2007. "Determining Optimal Building Height," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 44(3), pages 591-607, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:44:y:2007:i:3:p:591-607
    DOI: 10.1080/00420980601131902
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1080/00420980601131902
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/00420980601131902?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. R. H. Coase, 2013. "The Problem of Social Cost," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 56(4), pages 837-877.
    2. Schriver, William R & Bowlby, Roger L, 1985. "Changes in Productivity and Composition of Output in Building Construction, 1972-1982," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 67(2), pages 318-322, May.
    3. David Picken & Ben Ilozor, 2003. "Height and construction costs of buildings in Hong Kong," Construction Management and Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(2), pages 107-111.
    4. Benson, Earl D & Hansen, Julia L. & Schwartz Jr., Arthur & Smersh, Greg T., 1998. "Pricing Residential Amenities: The Value of a View," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 16(1), pages 55-73, January.
    5. Bertaud, Alain & Brueckner, Jan K., 2005. "Analyzing building-height restrictions: predicted impacts and welfare costs," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 109-125, March.
    6. Yanxiang Anthony Gu & Peter F. Colwell, 1997. "Housing rent and occupational rank in Beijing and Shenyang, People's Republic of China," Journal of Property Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(2), pages 133-143, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Valentina Antoniucci & Giuliano Marella, 2014. "Torri incompiute: i costi di produzione della rigenerazione urbana in contesti ad alta densit?," SCIENZE REGIONALI, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2014(3), pages 117-124.
    2. Jason Barr, 2012. "Skyscraper Height," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 45(3), pages 723-753, October.
    3. Fleming, David & Grimes, Arthur & Lebreton, Laurent & Maré, David & Nunns, Peter, 2018. "Valuing sunshine," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 268-276.
      • David Fleming & Arthur Grimes & Laurent Lebreton & David C Maré & Peter Nunns, 2017. "Valuing Sunshine," Working Papers 17_13, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research.
    4. Li, Yu & Rezgui, Yacine & Zhu, Hanxing, 2017. "District heating and cooling optimization and enhancement – Towards integration of renewables, storage and smart grid," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 281-294.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zheng, Xian & Peng, Wenwei & Hu, Mingzhi, 2020. "Airport noise and house prices: A quasi-experimental design study," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    2. Jason Barr, 2010. "Skyscrapers and the Skyline: Manhattan, 1895–2004," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 38(3), pages 567-597, September.
    3. Persson, Torsten & Tabellini, Guido, 2002. "Political economics and public finance," Handbook of Public Economics, in: A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), Handbook of Public Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 24, pages 1549-1659, Elsevier.
    4. Frans P. Vries & Nick Hanley, 2016. "Incentive-Based Policy Design for Pollution Control and Biodiversity Conservation: A Review," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 63(4), pages 687-702, April.
    5. George Tridimas & Stanley L. Winer, 2018. "On the Definition and Nature of Fiscal Coercion," Carleton Economic Papers 18-09, Carleton University, Department of Economics.
    6. Mario Jametti & Thomas von Ungern-Sternberg, 2005. "Assessing the Efficiency of an Insurance Provider—A Measurement Error Approach," The Geneva Risk and Insurance Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association for the Study of Insurance Economics (The Geneva Association), vol. 30(1), pages 15-34, June.
    7. Stefan Ambec & Yann Kervinio, 2016. "Cooperative decision-making for the provision of a locally undesirable facility," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 46(1), pages 119-155, January.
    8. Kurtis Swope & Ryan Wielgus & Pamela Schmitt & John Cadigan, 2011. "Contracts, Behavior, and the Land-assembly Problem: An Experimental Study," Research in Experimental Economics, in: Experiments on Energy, the Environment, and Sustainability, pages 151-180, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    9. Ralph E. Townsend, 2010. "Transactions costs as an obstacle to fisheries self-governance in New Zealand," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 54(3), pages 301-320, July.
    10. Simon Levin & Anastasios Xepapadeas, 2021. "On the Coevolution of Economic and Ecological Systems," Annual Review of Resource Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 13(1), pages 355-377, October.
    11. Karsten Neuhoff, 2002. "Optimal congestion treatment for bilateral electricity trading," Working Papers EP05, Energy Policy Research Group, Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge.
    12. Maximiliano Marzetti & Rok Spruk, 2023. "Long-Term Economic Effects of Populist Legal Reforms: Evidence from Argentina," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 65(1), pages 60-95, March.
    13. Zilberman, David & Just, Richard E., 1979. "Risk Aversion And Property Rights," 1979 Annual Meeting, July 29-August 1, Pullman, Washington 278195, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    14. Aseem Kaul & Jiao Luo, 2018. "An economic case for CSR: The comparative efficiency of for‐profit firms in meeting consumer demand for social goods," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(6), pages 1650-1677, June.
    15. Derek Jones & Panu Kalmi & Niels Mygind, 2005. "Choice of Ownership Structure and Firm Performance: Evidence from Estonia," Post-Communist Economies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(1), pages 83-107.
    16. Jonathan M. Lee, 2015. "The Impact of Heterogeneous NOx Regulations on Distributed Electricity Generation in U.S. Manufacturing," Working Papers 15-12, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    17. Andrés Abeliuk & Gerardo Berbeglia & Pascal Van Hentenryck, 2015. "Bargaining Mechanisms for One-Way Games," Games, MDPI, vol. 6(3), pages 1-21, September.
    18. Leonardo A. Lanzona, 2007. "The Determination of Contracts in Agricultural Economies," Development Economics Working Papers 22641, East Asian Bureau of Economic Research.
    19. Giovanni Lombardo & Andrea Mazzocchetti & Irene Rapallo & Nader Tayser & Silvano Cincotti, 2019. "Assessment of the Economic and Social Impact Using SROI: An Application to Sport Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(13), pages 1-21, July.
    20. Thomas Akpan Harry & Ekemini John Peter & Nsidibe Akpan Udoduk, 2022. "Environmental Impact Assessment Of Oil Producing Communities In Part Of The Niger Delta. A Case Study Of Ibeno, Ikot Abasi, Onna And Esit-Eket Local Government Area In Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria," Environmental Contaminants Reviews (ECR), Zibeline International Publishing, vol. 5(2), pages 49-56, April.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:44:y:2007:i:3:p:591-607. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.gla.ac.uk/departments/urbanstudiesjournal .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.