Socio-economic Consequences of the Improvement of Public Spaces

The master’s thesis studies how Moscow government street improvement program affected small businesses. I collected data on the number of small businesses (shops, restaurants and other amenities) opened and closed on the streets in the central districts of Moscow from 2012 to 2019, and employed a difference-in-difference regression analysis to estimate the impact of the program on the dynamics of small businesses comparing treated (renovated) streets after improvement to the untreated ones. I found strong positive effects of the street improvement policies on the activity of small business – an average Moscow central street saw an increase of more than one additional business per kilometer after the renovation. Moreover, the positive effects increased over time. The results highlight the importance of public investment in urban infrastructure to stimulate the growth of private businesses. A further work is needed to assess the economic efficiency of improving public spaces using cost-benefit analysis, and model the impact of public space improvement projects on urban socio-economic indicators.