Urban economics
Urban economics studies why cities exist, why some grow and others do not, and how land, housing and transport prices form within them. Its central idea is agglomeration: bringing people and firms together produces advantages —markets, ideas, suppliers— that outweigh the cost of congestion.
From the location theories of von Thünen and Alonso to Krugman's new economic geography, the discipline explains the city as a balance between access and space. Edward Glaeser popularised it with Triumph of the City (2011); his critics point out that agglomeration also concentrates inequality.
Videos on this term (11)
- Urban AI
Michael Batty: How Models Reveal the Hidden Essence of Cities
Michael Batty explains the city as a complex system emerging from millions of decisions: fractals, scaling laws,…
Michael Batty 3 min read - Urban geopolitics
Neil Brenner: Global Urbanization Goes Beyond City Borders
Neil Brenner argues that urbanization does not fit administrative boundaries: scale, state restructuring, extended…
Neil Brenner 3 min read - Urban AI
Proximity Transforms: Edward Glaeser on Productive Cities
Edward Glaeser explains why concentrating people and firms makes cities more productive: agglomeration, human…
Edward Glaeser 3 min read - Urban economy
Why Some Cities Innovate and Others Do Not: Michael Storper
Michael Storper explains why some cities innovate and others do not: organisations, technologies and territories,…
Michael Storper 3 min read - Urban AI
Algorithms That Decide Your Rent in Spain and the United States
Revenue management programs pool landlords' data and recommend rents that rise all at once: how they work, the…
3 min read - Urban AI
Manuel Castells: from neighbourhood struggle to network city
Castells read urban movements as structural responses to power, then showed how information networks reconfigured…
Manuel Castells 2 min read - Urban geopolitics
Johannesburg: The Elusive Metropolis by Mbembe and Nuttall
Achille Mbembe and Sarah Nuttall read Johannesburg as a modern African metropolis rather than an exception. The…
3 min read - Urban geopolitics
Planetary Urbanization: Neil Brenner and Christian Schmid's Thesis
Planetary urbanization holds that the urban has no outside: mines, plantations and networks are part of the city.
Neil Brenner 2 min read - Urban economy
Triumph of the City by Edward Glaeser: Why Density Matters
Triumph of the City (2011) by Edward Glaeser argues that the dense city makes us richer, greener and healthier.
Edward Glaeser 3 min read - Urban economy
Creative Economy: Innovation or Inequality? Scott and Pratt
The creative economy drives urban innovation and distributes inequality. What Richard Florida, Allen J.
3 min read - Urban form
Reurbanization and Urban Renewal: Opportunities, Risks and Cases
Reurbanization reuses central land but can expel residents. What Sharon Zukin, Neil Smith and Michael Storper…
3 min read
