Gabriel Ahlfeldt - profiles - Who's who - Department of Geography and Environment

Dr Gabriel Ahlfeldt is Associate Professor of Urban Economics and Land Development, having joined the Department of Geography and Environment in October 2009 as a Lecturer. He is the programme director of the MSc REEF, as well as contributing to the MSc RUPS. Prior to joining the Department, he earned his PhD in Economics from the University of Hamburg and worked as a research assistant for the Free University of Berlin. Dr. Ahlfeldt is an Affiliate of the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), the Spatial Economics Research Centre (SERC), CESIfo, and an associate of the Centre for Metropolitan Studies, Berlin. His research concentrates on the effect of large transport projects and architectural developments on local house prices, local political preferences and urban structure. He is also interested in how various agglomeration forces shape the spatial concentration of economic activity.

His work has been published in leading field journals (e.g. Journal of Urban Economics, Environment and Planning A, Journal of Economic Geography, Regional Science and Urban Economics, Regional Studies, Real Estate Economics, Urban Studies, the Annals of Regional Science, the Journal of Regional Science, the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research) as well as general interest journals (e.g. Econometrica, Journal of the Royal Statistical Society A, Economics Letters, Journal of Economics and Statistics, German Economic Review). His results have also been disseminated to a wider public audience via television, radio and webTV (ARD, RBB, UBrainTV) as well as various print media (e.g. BZ, The Boston Globe, The Economist, The Financial Times, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, The Telegraph, The Observer, Handelsblatt, Der Tagesspiegel, Welt, Wirtschaftswoche). His research has recently been supported by the Fritz-Thyssen-Foundation, the German Science Foundation (DFG), the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, and the Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines. This expertise has been commissioned by English Heritage and the Darmstadt Chamber of Commerce.

Empirical Research

New Urban Economics

New Economic Geography

Accessibility

Building Design Quality

Spatial Economics

Cultural & Media Geography

Selected recent publications:

G. Ahlfeldt, N. Holman: Distinctively different: A new approach to valuing architectural amenities, ECONOMIC JOURNAL, forthcoming

G. Ahlfeldt, N. Wendland: The spatial decay in commuting probabilities: Employment potential vs. commuting gravity, ECONOMICS LETTERS, forthcoming

G. Ahlfeldt, K. Moeller, S. Waights, N. Wendland: Game of Zones: The political economy of conservation areas, ECONOMIC JOURNAL, forthcoming

G. Ahlfeldt, P. Koutroumpis, T. Valletti, Speed 2.0: Valuing universal access to digital highways, JOURNAL OF THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC ASSOCIATION, forthcoming

G. Ahlfeldt, W. Maennig, F. Richter: Urban renewal after the Berlin Wall: A place-based policy evaluation, JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY, forthcoming

G. Ahlfeldt, S. Redding, D. Sturm, N. Wolf: On the economics of density: Evidence from the Berlin Wall. ECONOMETRICA, 83(6), 2127-2189

G. Ahlfeldt., W. Maennig (2015): Homevoters vs. Leasevoters: A Spatial Analysis of Airport Effects. JOURNAL OF URBAN ECONOMICS, 87(1), 85-99

G. Ahlfeldt. K. Moeller, N. Wendland (2015): Chicken or Egg? The PVAR econometrics of transportation. JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY, 15 (6): 1169-1193

N. Holman, G. Ahlfeldt (2015) No Escape? The co-ordination problem in heritage preservation. ENVIRONMENT AND PLANNING A, 47, 172 – 187

G. Ahlfeldt, B. Franke, W. Maennig (2015) Terrorism and the Regional and Religious Risk Perception of Foreigners: The Case of German Tourists. JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS AND STATISTICS, 235/1, 3-21

G. Ahlfeldt, W. Maennig & M. Oelschlaeger (2014): Measuring and quantifying lifestyles and their impact on public choices: The case of professional football in Munich. JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL MEASUREMENT, 39(1-2), 59-86

G. Ahlfeldt, G. Kavetsos (2014): Form or function? The impact of new sports stadia on property prices in London. JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL STATISTICAL SOCIETY A, 176 (4), 167

G. Ahfleldt (2013): If we build it, will they pay? Predicting property price effects of transport innovations. ENVIRONMENT AND PLANNING A, 45 (8), 1977–1994

G. Ahlfeldt, N. Wendland (2013): How Polycentric is a Monocentric City: Centres, spillovers and hysteresis. JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY, 13(1), 53-83

G. Ahlfeldt, W. Maennig (2013): External productivity and utility effects of city airports. REGIONAL STUDIES, 47 (4), 508-529.

G. Ahlfeldt, A. Mastro (2012): Valuing Iconic Design: Frank Lloyd Wright Architecture in Oak Park, Illinois. HOUSING STUDIES, 27 (8), 1079-1199

G. Ahlfeldt, C. Scholz (2012): Berlin – Stadt in Planung und Wandel. DISP – THE PLANNING REVIEW, 188, 6-15

G. Ahlfeldt (2012): Rail Mega‐Projects in the Realm of Inter‐ and Intra‐City Accessibility: Evidence and Outlooks for Berlin. BUILT ENVIRONMENT, 38 (1), 71-88

G. Ahlfeldt, W. Maennig (2012): Voting on a NIMBY Facility: Proximity Cost of an "Iconic" Stadium. URBAN AFFAIRS REVIEW, 48 (2), 205-237

G. Ahlfeldt, N. Wendland (2011): Fifty Years of Urban Accessibility: The Impact of Urban Railway Network on the Land Gradient in Berlin 1890-1936. REGIONAL SCIENCE AND URBAN ECONOMICS, 41 (2), 77-88

G. Ahlfeldt (2011): The Train has Left the Station: Do markets value intra-city access to inter-city rail connections? GERMAN ECONOMIC REVIEW, 12 (3), 312–335

G. Ahlfeldt (2011): If Alonso Was Right: Modelling Accessibility and Explaining the Residential Land Gradient. JOURNAL OF REGIONAL SCIENCE, 51 (2), 318-338

G. Ahlfeldt (2011): Blessing or curse? Appreciation, amenities and resistance to urban renewal. REGIONAL SCIENCE AND URBAN ECONOMICS, 41 (1), 32-45

G. Ahlfeldt, W. Maennig (2010): Impact of non-smoking ordinances on hospitality revenues: The case of Germany. JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS AND STATISTICS, 230 (5), 506-521

G. Ahlfeldt, W. Maennig (2010): Stadium Architecture and Urban Development from the Perspective of Urban Economics. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF URBAN AND REGIONAL RESEARCH, 34 (3), 629-646

G. Ahlfeldt, A. Feddersen (2010): Geography of a Sports Metropolis, REGION ET DEVELOPPEMENT, 31, 11-36.

G. Ahlfeldt (2010): Architektur, Oekonomie , Architekturoekonomie (Architecture, Economics , Architectural Economics) PERSPEKTIVEN DER WIRTSCHAFTSPOLITIK, 11 (4), 340-355

G. Ahlfeldt, W. Maennig (2010): Substitutability and complementarity of urban amenities: External effects of built heritage in Berlin. REAL ESTATE ECONOMICS, 38 (2), 285-323

G. Ahlfeldt, W. Maennig (2010):Impact of Sports Arenas on Land Values: Evidence from Berlin. THE ANNALS OF REGIONAL SCIENCE , 44 (2), 205-227

G. Ahlfeldt, W. Maennig, H. Scholz (2010): Erwartete externe Effekte und Wahlverhalten: Das Beispiel der Muenchner Allianz-Arena (Expected external effects and Voting: The Case of the Munich Allianz-Arena). JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS AND STATISTICS, 230 (1), 2-26

G. Ahlfeldt (2009): Built Environment as Determinant for Attractiveness of Location (Gebaute Umwelt als Determinante fuer Lageattraktivitaet: Der Einfluss gebietstypischer Bebauungsstruktur auf Grundstueckspreise in Berlin), DISP - THE PLANNING REVIEW, 179, 46-56

G. Ahlfeldt, N. Wendland (2009): Looming stations: Valuing transport innovations in historical context. ECONOMICS LETTERS, 105 (1), 97-99

G. Ahlfeldt, W. Maennig (2009): Arenas, Arena Architecture and the Impact on Location Desirability: The Case of "Olympic Arenas" in Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg, URBAN STUDIES, 46 (7), 1343-1362

G. Ahlfeldt, N. Wendland (2008): The centrality was already there! The importance of public rail traffic for the creation of Berlin City West; (Die Zentralitaet war schon da! Die Bedeutung des oeffentlichen Schienennahverkehrs fuer die Entstehung der Berliner City West), DISP - THE PLANNING REVIEW, 174

London faces skyscraper pressure unless planning laws change

Scarcity of land in London could result in the capital becoming a city of residential skyscrapers unless existing planning laws are altered, according to research by Gabriel Ahlfeldt, Associate Professor of Urban Economics and Land Development at LSE. As long as outward growth is prevented by policies such as the ‘green belt’, the city will need to grow vertically as the population increases. Read more.

LSE and English Heritage report reveals the value of conservation areas

Houses in conservation areas sell at a premium and rise in value quicker than those elsewhere in the UK, according to new research from Dr Gabriel Ahlfeldt and Dr Nancy Holman.

Their large-scale analysis of the effects of conservation areas on house prices in England was funded by English Heritage.