Public transit infrastructure may increase residential property values by improving accessibility and reducing commute expenses in urban areas. Prior studies have investigated the impacts of the proximity to public transportation on property values and obtained mixed conclusions. Many of these studies were focused on one transit mode for a single city. In this study, a hedonic pricing model is constructed to investigate the impacts of commuter rail/Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and bus lines separately in two different areas: the Stamford area (Stamford–Darien–New Canaan) and the Hartford area (Hartford–West Hartford–East Hartford), Connecticut. Comparison of the results from Ordinary Least Square and Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) indicates that estimation accuracy can be improved by considering local variation. Results from GWR show that impacts of proximity to bus and rail/BRT on property values vary spatially in the Hartford area. Negative impacts of bus stops are found in downtown Hartford and positive impacts in the west and east sides of Hartford. Impacts from rail/BRT are relatively minor compared with bus lines, partly due to the relatively recent launching of the BRT and Hartford rail line. In contrast, most properties in the Stamford area show appreciation towards rail service and depreciation to bus service. This study reveals the roles of different public transit systems in affecting residential property values. It also provides empirical evidence for future transit-oriented development in this region for uplifting the real estate market.
Land resource allocation efficiency (LRAE) is a significant indicator in weighing regional socioeconomic development. The study of LRAE can provide useful references for optimizing the layout of rural land use and conducting village planning against the background of rural revitalization strategy. Taking Fang County of Hubei Province as an example, we constructed an efficiency measurement index system based on economic, social, and ecological objectives. The slack-based measure with undesirable output (SBM-Undesirable) model and geodetector model were used to evaluate the rural LRAE, influencing factors and optimization paths from 2011 to 2017. The results suggest that: (1) the rural LRAE in Fang County shows a steady upward trend, with an average increasing rate of 9.204%. The townships in the north and south of the study area have a low LRAE value, and townships in the central area have a high LRAE value. The number of villages at low or medium-low LRAE is decreasing, and the number of villages with medium-high or high LRAE continued to increase from 2011 to 2017. (2) The spatial variation in LRAE in Fang County is affected by physical geography conditions, rural development conditions, and urban-rural relations. The impact of the proportion of primary industry and rural population has always been influential on the LRAE. Physical geography conditions have a relatively strong impact on the LRAE, but their values are decreasing. The influences of the Engel coefficient, urbanization rate and gap between the rural and urban resident’s income have been continuously enhanced. (3) All land types have obvious input redundancies, and reducing these redundancies can help achieve the optimal allocation of rural land resources. In the future, it is of significance to prioritize low-carbon and green developments, and to promote sustainable rural development.