I’d like to begin with what I believe are a few axioms of
city design.
1)
A building produces revenue per square foot. The
amount
produced is a function of building area, condition, and
occupant activity.
2)
The total revenue from all building occupant activity,
divided by the gross building area in sq. ft., equals the average revenue produced
per sq. ft.
3)
The total revenue from all building occupant
activity divided by the buildable acres occupied equals the revenue produced per
acre.
4)
Gross building area divided by the buildable
acres occupied equals gross building area per buildable acre, or shelter
capacity.*
5)
Shelter capacity times total average revenue per
sq. ft. equals revenue per acre occupied.
6)
Shelter capacity times total average revenue planned
per building sq. ft. determines the revenue per acre anticipated.
7)
The shelter capacity, activity, and condition
distributed on acres throughout a city determines its economic stability. (These
acres can easily be squandered for underperforming shelter capacity and
activity when these relationships are not part of a city’s planning information
and shelter capacity evaluation system.)
8)
The sum of all annual revenue produced in a city
divided by its total taxable acres must equal or exceed a city’s total annual
expense divided by its taxable acres.
9)
A city that does not know the revenue potential
per building sq. ft. of various land use activities cannot calculate the economic
implications of shelter capacity, intensity, and activity options. (This means
it is inadequately prepared to plan and adjust for the distribution of shelter
capacity and activity needed to produce annual revenue equal to or exceeding
its annual expense per acre.)
10) The
distribution of shelter capacity, intensity, activity, and condition throughout
a city determines its physical context, economic stability, and social,
psychological, and environmental quality of life.
NARRATIVE
From my experience, a land use plan does not consciously
distribute shelter capacity and activity to produce municipal revenue per
taxable acre equal to a city’s total annual expense per taxable acre. Economic
growth depends on the decisions of private investment, annexation, and
sprawling consumption of agriculture and the natural domain. It is a random
approach to economic stability with an unending appetite.
AN ALTERNATIVE
Axiom 8: The sum of all annual revenue produced in a city
divided by its taxable acres must equal or exceed a city’s total annual expense
divided by its taxable acres.
Existing economic performance can be calculated at the
parcel level when its shelter capacity is measured and multiplied by its
occupant revenue per sq. ft. When the result is divided by the acres occupied,
the result is the revenue per acre produced by the address involved. The sum of
all taxable parcel calculations divided by the total taxable acres involved
yields the revenue productivity of a city’s taxable land per acre. This
productivity can then be compared with a city’s total average annual expense
per acre to monitor and plan for its future with informed economic development
planning.
Planned economic performance can be calculated at the parcel
level when a shelter capacity objective for the parcel is multiplied by the
anticipated occupant revenue per sq. ft. When the result is divided by the
acres occupied, the result is the planned revenue per acre that can be compared
with a city’s total annual expense per acre.
The comparison between city expense and revenue per taxable
acre is a bottom line comparison that I don’t believe cities are prepared to
compute or monitor. They lack the relational databases, activity revenue
information, and shelter capacity evaluation science required to adequately
plan for the balanced distribution of shelter capacity and activity needed.
This will continue as long as a land use plan remains a map and a zoning
ordinance is used to arbitrarily dictate the form that emerges without
considering its economic implications. The resulting budget deficiencies and
fear of becoming “land-locked” have prompted continuing annexation and sprawl
seeking to produce new revenue from new land. It often proves inadequate
because the action is not mathematically correlated with the capacity,
activity, intensity, and context results that determine the economic implications
of the leadership decisions involved.
FURTHER INFORMATION
Further information can be found among the 285 essays on my
blog at www.wmhosack.blogspot.com.
These essays have contributed to my book, “The Equations of
Urban Design” that can be found using the following url:
https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001IR3ODO?ref_=pe_584750_33951330
The essay, “The Least a Smart City Should Know”, may be of
particular interest and can be found using the following url:
https://wmhosack.blogspot.com/2018/02/the-least-smart-city-should-know.html
Walter M. Hosack, July 2026
____________________________________
*Shelter capacity options for any given parcel can be
predicted with the templates of Shelter Capacity Evaluation, or Tegimenics.
Existing shelter capacity can also be measured using the same template
parameters to determine a parcel’s current shelter capacity, intensity, context,
and revenue contributions to a city’s target objective per acre.
Walter M Hosack, July 2026
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