Employment Subcenters and Land Values in a Polycentric Urban Area: The Case of Chicago

Abstract

In some previous empiricial research metropolitan Chicago has been considered as a polycentric urban area. This prior research is reviewed and new results are presented on the identification of employment subcenters and the effects of such subcenters on residential land values. The empirical tests confirm that the O'Hare Airport area has emerged as a significant employment subcenter. Several other employment subcenters exist or have existed in the past, and one subcenter had a positive impact on land values in 1928.