ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a non-mathematical overview, without trying to give it full precision, of the long and rather complex mathematical analysis, which constitutes a formal theory of the urban land market. It is a static model in which change is introduced by comparative statics. And it is an economic model: it speaks of economic men, and it goes without saying that real men and social groups have needs, emotions, and desires, which are not considered. The chapter considers the urban businessman, who, we shall assume, makes his decisions so as to maximize profits. A bid rent curve for the businessman, then, will be one along which profits are everywhere the same: the decisionmaker will be indifferent as to his location along such a curve. The household differs from the farmer and the urban firm in that satisfaction rather than profits is the relevant criterion of optional location.
