Sustainable Urban Development and Office Location
Sustainable Urban Development and Office Location

Summary/Abstract: Objective: The paper explores the criteria of selecting a location for new office projects by developers, as well as analyses them in relation to the principles of sustainable urban development. Real estate market’s participants should be part of the sustainable urban development process due to the impact of the built environment on cities’ functioning. The overall research question has been about whether there is an intersection between the need for sustainable urban development and locational preferences of office developers. Research Design & Methods: The paper discusses results of qualitative research (semi-structured interviews) among office developers in Cracow. The focus of the research has been narrowed down to selected aspects of the complex relations between the real estate market and urban development, namely the location of office buildings. Findings: The developers emphasised access to well-developed public transportation networks as well as access to urban amenities and services as crucial features of good location, attractive for end-users. Thus, the attractive location of an office building is, to large extent, consistent with the principles of sustainable urban development. Implications/Recommendations: The research findings emphasise the significance of the market participants’ awareness of the concept of urban sustainability, as this leads them to exert pressure on developers to create more sustainable buildings and choose more adequate locations. Furthermore, local sustainable urban development strategies and policies create a framework for developers to make more sustainable choices of location. Contribution/Value Added: This is an original contribution to knowledge on the dynamically-growing office market in Cracow, which I am hoping to have achieved by means of revealing developers’ office location preferences as well confronting these preferences with the urban sustainability requirements. The article broadens the analysis of office location preferences by adding the context of urban sustainability. Due to the significance of these findings for urban development, the research opens opportunities for further analysis on a more comprehensive sample.

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