THE SOCIAL COSTS AND BENEFITS OF URBAN CONSOLIDATION - A TIME BUDGET CONTINGENT VALUATION APPROACH

Assessing social costs and benefits of alternative housing density policies can be problematical using traditional attitudinal surveys. In most cases such surveys in Australia tend to oppose increased urban consolidation. This paper discusses the reasons for this before providing an alternative method for providing data which is amenable to traditional cost-benefit analysis. A time based quality of life index was administered to matched households of differing block size, location and suburban housing density. People were asked to estimate their current weekly time allocation and how they would like it to change. Willingness to pay for such a change was assessed within the constraints of current income. It was found that housing type and location did not affect perceived quality of life as measured by this time based indicator. A number of theoretical issues pertaining to time valuation are discussed. Possible future research directions are outlined.