Valuing the Micropublic Space: A Perspective from Beijing Housing Prices

Abstract

Research on public space has long been a primary focus in urban studies. Most previous studies have measured public space from the macroscale perspective, such as the distance to the city center, and therefore cannot specify the social significance and economic benefits related to its quality or details. Hence, we fill this gap by evaluating the impact of quality and the presence of specific public space elements on housing prices after dividing public space into two parts: public space surrounding the gated community (PSSG) and public space inside the gated community (PSIG). We measure the visible and touchable features of PSSG and PSIG and estimate the effects and the monetization value of PSSG and PSIG on housing prices. Our empirical analyses focused on the area within the Beijing 5th Ring Road and revealed the following: For the PSSG, wider streets, higher buildings along the streets, higher street greenery levels, higher proportions of street wall continuity, and lower street spatial disorder can contribute to higher housing prices. For PSIG, the presence of most gated community facilities can raise housing prices. We infer that the economic value of PSSG and PSIG, including housing prices will increase by 546 yuan/m2 as the gated community gains a sport field.