DISTRIBUTION OF URBAN RENT AND RESIDENTIAL DENSITY

This paper develops a simple model to illustrate the determination of equilibrium prices and quantities in urban residential land use under perfect competition. Assuming equal tastes and logarithmic utility functions it is shown that commuting distance rises with income. Assuming a Pareto income distribution the differential equation equating supply and demand may be solved in closed form. Rent, density and income turn out to be power functions of distance. A simple relationship between city population and total area is also obtained. © 1970.