benefits of compact, mixed use development

This article used a regression analysis to determine the effects density and urban density have on productivity. Metropolitan GDP was used as the unit of observation for the 363 U.S. metropolitan areas used in the study, and productivity was defined as a worker’s share of metropolitan GDP. They used two different measures of density: population-weighted average of county-subdivision densities and un-weighted population density of population by the average unit of land. “Urban” was defined as the roughly 9% of metropolitan land on which 85% of the population resides. Urban density only accounts for this area, whereas density accounts for the entire metropolitan area. A doubling of density was found to have a 9.7% increase in productivity, whereas a doubling of urban density was found to have a 22.5% increase, or 20.6% at the average level of human capital.