The economic effect of urban design quality and physical features on the land price in the commercial area in Austin, Texas

Many people have realized that urban design is one of the most important features to determine the real estate price. However, there are rare studies to explain the effect of urban design on the real estate price due to its intangible characteristic. This study is intended to demonstrate the relationship between land prices in the commercial area and urban design quality and physical features of lands using the hedonic price model. First, physical features that affected the real estate price are analyzed through literature reviews. Next, by literature reviews, the study to measure urban design quality quantitatively is also introduced. Then, urban design quality of 14 subject streets in Austin, Texas is evaluated using the measurement instrument after selecting 14 subject streets among all of Austin streets. Finally, the explanation model to demonstrate the relationship between the land price, and urban design quality and physical features is built by the hedonic price model. The model displays that urban design quality has a great influence on the land price in commercial areas in Austin, Texas. In addition, the influence of urban design quality is revealed largely in comparison to other physical features. The significance of this study is to analyze and demonstrate what we intuitively believe by statistical and quantitative methods.