ABSTRACT
This chapter presents some empirical evidence on the manner in which transportation costs influence the household's choice of a residential location. It describes a residential location model, which considers the problem of residential location somewhat differently than have models available elsewhere in the literature. Residential space is defined as the urban land utilized by the household in its residential activities. For single-family dwelling units this would be closely approximated by lot size. It is further assumed that residential space is not an inferior good and that the household chooses its residential location and its consumption of residential space by maximizing the utility obtainable from given income. For empirical testing of the residential location model, the Detroit metropolitan area is divided into concentric distance rings, numbered from one to six from the center outward, around the central business district. Family size as an indicator of space preference has a similar effect on residential location.
