2003/01/01 by Robert E. Lang, Jennifer LeFurgy · 1 citation
Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Social Sciences · #Housing Market and Economics #Urbanization and City Planning #Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies #Metropolitan area #Space (punctuation) #Geography #Economic geography #Scale (ratio) #Archaeology #Cartography
paper · doi:10.1080/10511482.2003.9521482
openalex publication_date 2003/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
Edgeless Cities, a form of sprawling office development that never reaches the scale, density, or cohesiveness of Edge Cities, now account for the bulk of office space found outside of downtowns. The term draws on Garreau's Edge City, yet it is a new, albeit elusive, category. It captures the fact that most suburban office areas lack a physical edge. In contrast to Edge Cities, which combine large‐scale office development with major retail, Edgeless Cities feature mostly isolated office buildings spread across vast swaths of urban space. This article looks at the evolving geography of office space in 13 of the nation's largest office markets, which together contain more than 2.6 billion square feet of office space and 26,000 buildings. The data provide an empirical framework for examining competing theories of metropolitan form. The article concludes with a discussion of the policy implications resulting from the emergence of Edgeless Cities.