Fixed Location Factor

Land is fixed in location and immobile. This fixed location attribute influences various utilization of land. According to Barlowe, this has a bearing on human decisions or preferences concerning the value and use-capacity of various places; land-utilization practices; private ownership, land values, uses, and ownership conditions to the local environment; and legal description of properties (1958).

On human decisions or preferences
Rational thinking and choices dictate that some portions of the earth’s surface are more advantageous than the others. These preferred areas gain economic significance and value when used by an individual or group of individuals to meet certain needs and demands. For example, a businessman would put up a business in a metropolis where he might expect the largest flow of customers and trade and thus the biggest yield. In such respect, said area has a locational advantage. An economic location is thus established by combining human choice and physical location. As Barlowe has explained:

The concept of economic location assumes that some areas enjoy locational advantages over the others. This advantage often involves savings in transportation costs and time; and it stems partly from the fact that the law of diminishing returns makes it both physically impossible and economically impracticable for man to produce all his market goods at points adjacent to a central market. Location advantages also result from the higher productivity and lower production costs associated with particular sites (1958:32).

Moreover, since most sites can accommodate only one use at a time, the need to link the fixed geographic or spatial relationships that separate various areas arises. This can be resolved by providing transportation means. In this respect, the area that has locational advantage is the one where there are savings in transportation costs and time. For instance, an individual would reside in a place near the office where he goes to work or near the shopping center where he buys his basic necessities. Such decisions may be based on his savings in transportation costs and time, whichever activity he values most.

On land-utilization practices
Relative to the above, land location prescribes the use of land. Different uses of land can be observed at varying distance from the market. Time, effort, and convenience are relevant factors that are considered in determining the use of a particular tract of land. As to the said factors for instance, maximum savings can be realized if heavy and bulky products are manufactured near the market.

On ownership and community ties
Because of fixed location factor, standardization of properties is impossible with parcels of land. This is because tracts of land “differ in location and have different neighbors and different spatial relationships with respect to other properties and facilities” (Barlowe, 1958: 36).

On legal description of properties
The fixed location factor helps in describing the location of various land holdings, which in turn facilitates the legal description of land titles.

Reference:
Barlowe, Raleigh. Land Resource Economics: The Political Economy of Rural and Urban Resource Use. (New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1958).