Presentation of a project I completed in grad school involving an analysis of edge city growth throughout the Phoenix metropolitan region.

1. Phoenix Edge City Analysis Daniel J. Christen

2. About Edge Cities The term “edge city” was first used by Joel Garreau in his book Edge City: Life On the New Frontier, written in 1991. Edge cities are defined as “satellite” centers of employment and shopping located away from the CBD of a city. The monocentric model poorly explains their character; thus other models that explain polycentric behavior are needed.

3. Other Edge City Analyses Scheer and Petkov, 1998 – Looked at the physical landscape of various cities (qualitative approach) Redfearn, 2007 – Looked at employment centers by local regression Suarez and Delgado, 2007 – Looked at density gradients, as well as trip attraction flows Adolphson, 2009 – Looked at floor area ratio (FAR) and levels of surrounding accessibility Yue, Liu, and Fan, 2009 – Looked at land-use patterns within cities

4. Methodology Identify edge cities based on five criteria developed by Joel Garreau. Edge cities must meet all criteria. Compare 1990 and 2007 data for the Phoenix metropolitan area. Square footage is based on employment figures within particular industries. One retail employee equals 945 square feet of retail space, while one office employee equals 387 square feet of office space. Buffers were used to include all census tracts within a half-mile distance from dominant tracts in order to not underestimate edge city limits.

5. Rule 1: “Is Perceived By the Population as One Place”

6. Rule 2: “Was Nothing Like a City as Recently as Thirty Years Ago” PHOENIX 1955 10 Mile Radius PHOENIX 1995 20 Mile Radius

7. Rule 3: “Has More Jobs Than Bedrooms”

8. Rule 4: “Has 600,000 Square Feet or More of Leasable Retail Space”

9. Rule 5: “Has Five Million Square Feet or More of Leasable Office Space”

10. Analysis Results: Retail

11. Analysis Results: Office

12. Phoenix Edge Cities

13. Conclusion No “edge city” existed throughout the Phoenix metropolitan area in 1990. Four edge cities exist as of 2007. They include Biltmore, Uptown Phoenix, the Broadway Curve complex along I-10, and Scottsdale Airpark/Kierland. Three other centers are close to edge city status. They include Metrocenter, Deer Valley, and Ahwatukee. All edge cities have surpassed Downtown Phoenix in both retail space and office space. Scottsdale Airpark/Kierland is the largest and most prominent edge city in the Phoenix metropolitan area.