Where is the Consumer Center of St. Petersburg?

37 Pages Posted: 18 May 2017

See all articles by Konstantin A. Kholodilin

Konstantin A. Kholodilin

German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin)

Irina Krylova

National Research University Higher School of Economics

Darya Kryutchenko

Saint Petersburg State University

Date Written: April 2017

Abstract

In an urban economy, the distribution of people and real estate prices depends on the location of the central business district of a city. As distance from the city center increases, both prices and population density diminish, for travel costs increase in terms of time and money. As manufacturing gradually leaves the cities, the importance of consumer amenities as attractors of population to the urban areas increases. The role of a business center is being replaced by the consumer center. In this paper, we identify the location of the consumer center of St. Petersburg - the second largest city in Russia and its former capital. For this purpose using the data from open sources in the Internet regarding the location of many different types of urban amenities, the indices of their spatial density are computed. Using the weights based on coefficients of spatial variation and survey-based weights, the individual indices are aggregated to two general centrality indices. Their unique maxima correspond to the city center of St. Petersburg, which is located on Nevsky prospekt, between Fontanka river and Liteinyi prospekt.

Keywords: St. Petersburg, urban amenities, consumer city center, kernel density estimation

JEL Classification: R14, R15, C43

Suggested Citation

Kholodilin, Konstantin A. and Krylova, Irina and Kryutchenko, Darya, Where is the Consumer Center of St. Petersburg? (April 2017). DIW Berlin Discussion Paper No. 1666, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2970482 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2970482

Konstantin A. Kholodilin (Contact Author)

German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin) ( email )

Mohrenstraße 58
Berlin, 10117
Germany

Irina Krylova

National Research University Higher School of Economics ( email )

Soyza Pechatnikov str., 15
St. Petersburg, 190068
Russia

Darya Kryutchenko

Saint Petersburg State University ( email )

7-9, Universitetskaya nab.
Saint Petersburg, 199034
Russia

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