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Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/2445/191781
The Role of Historic Amenities in Shaping Cities [WP]
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Abstract
The existence of amenities matters to understanding people’s residential choices. Our theoretical model extends the standard urban model by introducing exogenous amenities to explain population allocation within cities. To estimate the model predictions, we focus on historic amenities using detailed geolocated data for 579 European cities. We analyze how the shape of city centers endowed or not endowed with these amenities is affected. We measure històric amenities with the location of buildings from the Roman, Medieval, and Renaissance-Baroque periods. Our results show that cities with historic buildings in their centers have steeper population density gradients, are more compact and centralized, and have been less affected by the suburbanization processes caused by transportation improvements. Heterogeneity analyses show that the quantity and the quality of historic buildings also matter. Several robustness checks controlling for natural and modern amenities and testing for the spatial scope of these amenities verify our main results.
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GARCÍA LÓPEZ, Miquel-Àngel and VILADECANS MARSAL, Elisabet. The Role of Historic Amenities in Shaping Cities [WP]. IEB Working Paper 2022/08. [consulted: 12 of June of 2026]. Available at: https://hdl.handle.net/2445/191781