Beyond Edge City: Office Geography in the New Metropolis

Abstract

Few studies focus on the distribution of office development across the United States as an element of urban form. Joel Garreau argues that all office space found outside central-city downtowns is grouped into large, mixed-use clusters he termed "edge cities." The reality is that edge cities capture only a modest share of non-CBD office space, with a significant proportion located in what Lang referred to as "edgeless cities." This study reexamines the distribution of edge and edgeless cities using a spatial analysis of more than 3 billion square feet of office space in 13 large U.S. markets. The office patterns revealed do not fit a downtown versus edge city development model, but instead show complex and regional variation. The findings confirm the "edgeless" nature of U.S. office development. Although primarily descriptive, this paper highlights issues of urban form from a holistic and novel perspective.