SPATIAL PATTERNS OF ECONOMIC RENTS: DEVELOPING SUVARNABHUMI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, THAILAND

Abstract

With the rise of the importance of air transportation in the 21st century, the role of economics in airport planning and decision-making has become crucial to the urban structure and land values. This paper examines the relationship between an airport and its impact on the distribution of urban land uses and land values by applying the Alonso’s bid-rent model. Using Suvarnabhumi International Airport as a case study, the analysis was made over three different time periods of airport development. The statistical results confirm that: (i) Alonso’s model can be used to explain the impacts of the airport only for the northeast quadrant of the airport; (ii) proximity to the airport shows an inverse relationship with the land value of all six types of land use activities through three periods of time; and (iii) the land value for commercial land use is the most sensitive to the location of the airport compared to other types of land use activities.