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Environmental noise has become a major issue in densely urbanized areas. The impact of this externality on the quality of life is reflected by a decrease in the residents' well‐being, and subsequently a decrease in property values. A considerable number of studies have used hedonic pricing (HP) to assess the impact of noise on property markets, but few of them have considered the existence of submarkets. Theoretically, it could be expected that the marginal value of 1 dB varies according to the neighbourhood's noise exposure, the property characteristics (e.g. insulation level) and the annoyance experienced by residents. The purpose of this paper is to determine whether noise has a stationary impact on property prices.

Geographically weighted regression is used, which resolves spatial dependencies (i.e. spatial autocorrelation) and considers “soft borders” between submarkets to study the impact of noise on the value of a sample of multifamily dwellings in Barcelona.

The analysis suggests that the noise level does matter, although the noise depreciation sensitivity index (NDSI) found (0.08 per cent) is in the bottom decile of the HP studies reviewed by Navrud. However, the NDSI is not stationary throughout the city, suggesting that 1 dB has a different impact in different areas.

Noise impact seems to depend not only on the noise intensity to which dwellings are exposed but also on the nature of the noise source. This may suggest the presence of other externalities that arouse social aversion.

In the real estate industry, as well as in other mature markets, producers seek to improve their comparative advantage by correctly addressing the needs and expectations of future users; when projects involve public financial investment (e.g. public/private partnerships), such participation may help to legitimate resource allocation. In this respect few quantitative approaches, affiliated to the study of demand, are able to evaluate the trade‐off that is given between the preferences of individuals when they are faced to choose a single alternative, as is usual in real estate and urban projects. The purpose of this paper is to report the initial results of a research study with the objective of investigating the extent to which techniques used in the design of goods and services could be used to consider future users' preferences on the design processes of real estate developments, such as those promoted by public‐private partnerships in which the inclusion of people's opinion become central for commercial and political reasons.

This article seeks to evaluate the extent to which conjoint analysis, a technique affiliated with designing goods and services through future user/consumer participation, may be used as a support tool in making real estate decisions. This method, born out of the field of marketing analysis, is based on choice experiments and the results are analyzed with conventional multinomial regression models, and can be rooted in “characteristics theory of value” and “behaviorism”.

The results suggest that although this method is helpful in finding the relative relevance of each of the attributes in the projects evaluated, it is not sufficiently clear to: determine the attributes to evaluate; understand the deep reasons motivating preferences; or anticipate future needs that go unnoticed by potential users/buyers in their everyday perceptions. Therefore, this technique is far superior to typical evaluation surveys on independent attributes. However, it is insufficient in the context of intrinsically complex processes.

Although intensively used in the design of short‐life consumption services and products, conjoint analysis has been scarcely used on long‐life goods such as urban premises; in this article this technique is used for first time in the framework of a type of public/private brownfield redevelopment project in Catalonia.

Taking as a case study the city of San Carlos de Bariloche – in northern Patagonia, Argentina – this paper aims to compare its urban structure with previous urbanization models and identify some characteristics of this tourist city that could inspire the construction of an adapted urban model for Latin American tourist cities, particularly those based on natural attractions.

Based on multivariate analysis of population census data and local economic statistics, this paper compares the residential location of different social groups and the location of main economic activities in Bariloche. First, principal component analysis (PCA) is combined with cluster analysis to classify Bariloche’s neighborhoods. Second, different maps are analyzed to study the location of economic activities, in comparison with previous clusters.

The results of this paper show that Bariloche partially adjusts to previous urbanization models, as the landscape and physical environment determine the characteristics of its urban growth, as well as the development of tourist activities. Therefore, this paper then proposes an adapted urban model for the case of Bariloche, which could be also contrasted with other Latin American tourist cities in the future.

Bearing in mind that there is no model of Latin American tourist cities so far, this paper tries to analyze to what extent the assumptions and patterns of previous urban models could be adapted to Latin American tourist cities, such as Bariloche, which base their attractiveness and economic dynamism on its natural physical environment.

In geopolitical conflict zones, the phenomenon of abandonment often correlates with challenges of legal definitions and ownership status. The abandoned properties in conflict zones share similar characteristics with what is commonly known as a brownfield site. However, due to the nature of geopolitical conflict zones, which is mixed with people and sentiments other than technical challenges, the usual solutions to the brownfield question, cannot provide enough tools to deal with the land management of areas engulfed in conflicts. This paper, therefore, aims to discuss and propose a land-use typology that describes abandoned properties in a geopolitical context.

The proposed land-use typology serves as the main conceptual framework that integrates the sustainable brownfield regeneration approach with social theories of space and place. As an inductive research approach, this conceptual framework brought the fundamental and comparative literature on brownfield regeneration to support the main argument related to the similarities and challenges of the regeneration of abandoned properties in conflict zones. The approach used in this paper addresses the broader consideration of land management in geopolitical contexts and urban conflict zones that considers the relationship of exercise of extreme power over space.

The findings highlight an insufficient understanding of the origin of the property problems in geopolitical conflict zones, especially after a power struggle, producing significant land management issues. In a geopolitical context, urban planners and economists' perspective on definitions of space and place defined by maps, GIS data sets, Excel and other similar tools may not bring any practical or long-term solution to the land management challenges. The study suggests that dealing with abandoned properties and regeneration plans in conflict zones requires identifying and evaluating geo-political, geo-social, geo-economic characteristics of the area before any further action.

This paper's findings are of particular interest to decision-makers and conflict stakeholders in geopolitical conflict zones, such as local governments, policymakers and peacekeeping agencies. The findings of this research can clarify and help them have an alternative understanding of the space engulfed in the conflict, other than a technocratic, mapping, GIS, statistical way of understanding and approaches to the complex aspect of a space.

This paper's conceptual framework provides a value-added contribution to the literature on land management in conflict zones by taking the reader's attention to the origin of the problems and their associated real estate issues in geopolitical contexts. For the first time, this inductive research proposes a land-use typology that considers the complexity of the interrelationship between land policies, land-use theory, social theories of space and place and the exercise of extreme power over space. This paper produced a concept that is not easily measurable by quantitative nor qualitative approaches.

Air quality, noise and proximity to urban infrastructure can arguably have an important impact on the quality of life. Environmental quality (the price of good health) has become a central tenet for consumer choice in urban locales when deciding on a residential neighbourhood. Unlike the market for most tangible goods, the market for environmental quality does not yield an observable per unit price effect. As no explicit price exists for a unit of environmental quality, this paper aims to use the housing market to derive its implicit price and test whether these constituent elements of health and well-being are indeed capitalised into property prices and thus implicitly priced in the market place.

A considerable number of studies have used hedonic pricing models by incorporating spatial effects to assess the impact of air quality, noise and proximity to noise pollutants on property market pricing. This study presents a spatial analysis of air quality and noise pollution and their association with house prices, using 2,501 sale transactions for the period 2013. To assess the impact of the pollutants, three different spatial modelling approaches are used, namely, ordinary least squares using spatial dummies, a geographically weighted regression (GWR) and a spatial lag model (SLM).

The findings suggest that air quality pollutants have an adverse impact on house prices, which fluctuate across the urban area. The analysis suggests that the noise level does matter, although this varies significantly over the urban setting and varies by source.

Air quality and environmental noise pollution are important concerns for health and well-being. Noise impact seems to depend not only on the noise intensity to which dwellings are exposed but also on the nature of the noise source. This may suggest the presence of other externalities that arouse social aversion. This research presents an original study utilising advanced spatial modelling approaches. The research has value in further understanding the market impact of environmental factors and in providing findings to support local air zone management strategies, noise abatement and management strategies and is of value to the wider urban planning and public health disciplines.