Revenue Implications of Shelter Capacity and Land Use Activity Investment

The land is a city’s source of income. If it doesn’t deliver average revenue per taxable acre equal to its total annual expense per taxable acre, the annual deficit must be reconciled with budget reductions or depletion of its “rainy-day” fund.

I doubt that many cities even know their total annual expense per taxable acre or their total annual revenue per taxable acre. It would be easy to calculate expense per gross acre, but it would be more difficult to calculate by taxable acre, and even more difficult to calculate by taxable, buildable acre. It would be relatively meaningless information, anyway, if it were not contained in a database format of additional information organized by street address, parcel number, census block, census tract, and zoning district number at the very least. (Delete or compartmentalize street address and parcel number if privacy is a concern.) This would allow geographic information mapping of database information at the cellular level of the urban anatomy. Comparing revenue to expense at this level is one way to evaluate the economic health of its various blocks, tracts, and zones. It is the only way, in my opinion, to identify the scope of land use area/activity and additions/adjustments needed to improve a city’s average revenue per taxable, buildable acre. It represents digital urban design, economic planning, mapping, and geographic evaluation at the cellular level of the urban anatomy, but it relies on information sharing arrangements and agreements. Annexation or redevelopment without this information will continue with hope as a strategy based on a lack of analytical data and evaluation. It will produce continuing consumption of agriculture and our source of life, the Natural Domain. Much investment in research, evaluation, debate, and leadership remains if we hope to respect the planet’s unwritten Law of Limits.

At the present time we lack information sharing agreements and reliable data regarding the revenue that can be expected per square foot of gross building area and activity. Until then, the shelter capacity of land and its revenue potential per square foot of activity cannot be usefully linked to improve our ability to shelter the activities of growing populations within geographic limits defined to protect their quality and source of life.

Walter M. Hosack, November 2025

photo credit: BLM Wyoming

PS: The 260+ essays I have written on my blog at www.wmhosack.blogspot.com and my book, The Equations of Urban Design, are available to those who wish to pursue new efforts to lead shelter for the activities of growing populations within geographic limits defined to protect both their quality and source of life.