We construct a new dataset containing parcel sizes and building footprints of Canadian manufacturing plants and decompose industrial density (parcel size per worker) into: crowding (floorspace per worker); building height (floorspace to building footprint); and parcel coverage (building footprint to parcel size). We find that establishments occupy parcels more densely in big cities and central locations, and that larger establishments use less land per worker. Floorspace per worker is unrelated to distance from the city centre. The estimated elasticity of substitution between land- and non-land factors is small, between 0.14 and 0.42.

Little is known about where hotspots of gentrification emerge within a city and the role that some types of businesses play in the process. We develop a method to detect the sectors whose presence heralds the process of gentrification in a neighborhood. We show that these sectors, mostly found in cultural and creative industries, help to anticipate neighborhood change and that their predictive power complements that of traditional gentrification determinants. We also examine mechanisms related to amenities, worker characteristics, and signaling that are consistent with these results. The analysis illustrates the importance of businesses in the sociodemographic dynamics of neighborhoods.