Define bid-rent theory and explain how it accounts for the CBD land value gradient.

• A. Land users bid for desirable locations; rents are determined by government subsidies, producing uniform values.
• B. Land value increases with distance from the CBD due to reduced competition.
• C. Land use is random; no gradient in rents.
• D. Land users bid for desirable locations; rents are highest near the CBD and decline with distance, creating a gradient.

Answer: (D)

Bid-rent theory shows how accessibility drives how much land users are willing to pay. The city center offers the greatest access to markets, workers, and services, so firms and households bid up land prices there. That pushes rents to the highest levels near the CBD. As distance from the center increases, transportation costs and the time needed to reach central activities rise, so the value of being near the CBD falls. The maximum rent a land user is willing to pay therefore declines with distance, creating a downward-sloping land-value gradient from the center outward. In a monocentric city this yields concentric rings of progressively lower rents as you move away from the CBD. Modern changes can blur this pattern with multiple centers, but the basic idea remains: central, well-connected land commands the highest rents.