Spatial analysis of stated and revealed preference values of farms and parks: a case of Edmonton, Canada

• Author / Creator

  Hu,Ziwei

• Rapid city expansion has meant the conversion of large areas of farmland into developed uses. With the increasing social realization of the amenity and non-amenity values of open spaces in urban and peri-urban contexts, this study provides information that policy makers and planners could use as they devise policy tools to guide land use. The provincial Government of Alberta has published several plans for farmland conservation, but none focus on the natural amenity value of farmland nor provide a clear blueprint for the future. This thesis applies two methods for estimating the non-market values of farmland in the regional context of Edmonton, Canada. The first study uses a spatial autocorrelation model (SAC) to estimate the effect of proximity to open space on the price of detached houses in Edmonton during the 2015 to 2017 period. The results show that properties have higher value if they are close to forest land, shrubland, wetland, parks and rivers and lower if near agricultural land. The second study uses the Edmonton data from a discrete choice experiment with spatial distance variables to estimate the effect of respondents’ proximity to different types of open space on their non-market values of farmland. Conditional Logit and Random Parameter Logit Models are used to estimate respondents’ willingness to pay to conserve farmland. Both studies find positive effects of living close to other forms of open space, but negative effects of living close to developable farmland and This second result supports the hypothesis that most residents support farmland conservation in the region, but those who live closest to the city frontier also appreciate the benefits of urban development in the frontier area. The valuation results could support a variety of policy tools, including property taxes, transferable development credits, and/or conservation easements.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • land-use change
  • farmland preservation
  • spatial analysis
  • open space
  • environemnt valuation
  • spatial econometrics
  • choice experiment

• Graduation date

  Spring 2021

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Science

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-bqbe-bh73

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.