We develop a new dartboard methodology to delineate urban areas using detailed information about building location, which we implement using a map of buildings in France. For each pixel, our approach compares actual building density after smoothing to counterfactual smoothed building density computed after randomly redistributing buildings. We define as urban any area with statistically significant excess building density. We also define the urban cores of these urban areas in a similar manner. Finally, we develop novel one- and two-sided tests to provide a statistical basis to compare maps with different delineations, which we use to document the robustness of our approach and large differences between our preferred delineation and the corresponding official one.
Download full paper · 11MB PDF
Affordable Housing Architecture Asia Borrowing Constraints Canada China Colombia Commercial Brokerage covid-19 CRE Credit Risk Transfers Debt Market Demographics Development e-Commerce Equity Market Ethnic Factors Europe Foreclosures Global Global Financial Crisis hospitality Housing & Residential Housing Supply India inflation Investing land use regulation Macroeconomics Microeconomics Mixed-Use Mobility Mortgage Rates Mortgages Multi-family Non-Traditional Mortgages office sector Political Risk Real Estate Investment Trusts Recession Rental Retail South America Sub-Prime Mortgages Sustainability United States Urban Urbanization work from home