SPATIAL LANDSCAPE INDEXES IN A HEDONIC FRAMEWORK - AN ECOLOGICAL ECONOMICS ANALYSIS USING GIS

This paper develops a spatial hedonic model to explain residential val ues in a region within a 30-mile radius of Washington DC. Hedonic mode ls of housing or land values are commonplace, but are rarely estimated for non-urban problems and never using the type of spatial data (geog raphical information system or GIS) available to us. Our approach offe rs the potential for a richer model, one that allows for spatial heter ogeneity in estimation, and one that ties residential land values to f eatures of the landscape. Beyond the traditional variables to explain residential values, such as man-made and ecological features of the pa rcel and distance to cities and natural amenities, we also hypothesize that the value of a parcel in residential land use is affected by the pattern of surrounding land uses, not just specific features of point locations. We have also created and added these variables to the hedo nic model by choosing an appropriate area around an observation, and c alculating measures of percent open space, diversity, and fragmentatio n of land uses, measured at different scales around that observation. These indices have, for the most part, been significant in the models. By including two of the landscape indices developed by landscape ecol ogists, we have developed a model that explains land and housing value s more completely, by capturing how individuals value the diversity an d fragmentation of land uses around their homes. (C) 1997 Elsevier Sci ence B.V.