Exploring the role of accessibility in shaping retail location using space syntax measures: A panel-data analysis in Lisbon, 1995-2010

Although location theory is now almost two centuries old, the firms' location choice processes areyet to be fully understood. And while accessibility, in some form, has long been used as an explanatory factor, spatial configuration measures (space syntax) have hardly been used in location models, and longitudinal analyses have also been infrequent. Therefore, a panel multinomial logit model is implemented in Lisbon to explore the role of this specific type of accessibility measures in shaping firm location, throughout a 15-year period, using data from 1995, 2002 and 2010. The analysis is focused on retail activity (five retail categories), restaurants and cafes. The results show that firm location can persistently be related to Local integration and Choice, although the magnitude of the relationship changes depending on the commercial category. These results reinforce the general idea that good urban design can potentially counteract information costs and help commerce locate in new areas of the city while allowing it to continue to succeed in the city's older, more central areas.