Download Free Cities And The Economy Book in PDF and EPUB Free Download. You can read online Cities And The Economy and write the review.

In this book, Jane Jacobs, building on the work of her debut, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, investigates the delicate way cities balance the interplay between the domestic production of goods and the ever-changing tide of imports. Using case studies of developing cities in the ancient, pre-agricultural world, and contemporary cities on the decline, like the financially irresponsible New York City of the mid-sixties, Jacobs identifies the main drivers of urban prosperity and growth, often via counterintuitive and revelatory lessons.
Today, the Bay Area is home to the most successful knowledge economy in America, while Los Angeles has fallen progressively further behind its neighbor to the north and a number of other American metropolises. Yet, in 1970, experts would have predicted that L.A. would outpace San Francisco in population, income, economic power, and influence. The usual factors used to explain urban growth—luck, immigration, local economic policies, and the pool of skilled labor—do not account for the contrast between the two cities and their fates. So what does? The Rise and Fall of Urban Economies challenges many of the conventional notions about economic development and sheds new light on its workings. The authors argue that it is essential to understand the interactions of three major components—economic specialization, human capital formation, and institutional factors—to determine how well a regional economy will cope with new opportunities and challenges. Drawing on economics, sociology, political science, and geography, they argue that the economic development of metropolitan regions hinges on previously underexplored capacities for organizational change in firms, networks of people, and networks of leaders. By studying San Francisco and Los Angeles in unprecedented levels of depth, this book extracts lessons for the field of economic development studies and urban regions around the world.
The cultural economy forms a leading trajectory of urban development, and has emerged as a key facet of globalizing cities. Cultural industries include new media, digital arts, music and film, and the design industries and professions, as well as allied consumption and spectacle in the city. The cultural economy now represents the third-largest sector in many metropolitan cities of the West including London, Berlin, New York, San Francisco, and Melbourne, and is increasingly influential in the development of East Asian cities (Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore), as well as the mega-cities of the Global South (e.g. Mumbai, Capetown, and São Paulo). Cities and the Cultural Economy provides a critical integration of the burgeoning research and policy literatures in one of the most prominent sub-fields of contemporary urban studies. Policies for cultural economy are increasingly evident within planning, development and place-marketing programs, requiring large resource commitments, but producing – on the evidence – highly uneven results. Accordingly the volume includes a critical review of how the new cultural economy is reshaping urban labour, housing and property markets, contributing to gentrification and to ‘precarious employment’ formation, as well as to broadly favorable outcomes, such as community regeneration and urban vitality. The volume acknowledges the important growth dynamics and sustainability of key creative industries. Written primarily as a text for upper-level undergraduate and Masters students in urban, economic and social geography; sociology; cultural studies; and planning, this provocative and compelling text will also be of interest to those studying urban land economics, architecture, landscape architecture and the built environment.
When and how were cities born? Does urbanization foster innovation and economic development? What was the level of urbanization in traditional societies? Did the Industrial Revolution facilitate urbanization? Has the growth of cities in the Third World been a handicap or an asset to economic development? In this revised translation of De Jéricho à Mexico, Paul Bairoch seeks the answers to these questions and provides a comprehensive study of the evolution of the city and its relation to economic life. Bairoch examines the development of cities from the dawn of urbanization (Jericho) to the explosive growth of the contemporary Third World city. In particular, he defines the roles of agriculture and industrialization in the rise of cities. "A hefty history, from the Neolithic onward. It's ambitious in scope and rich in subject, detailing urbanization and, of course, the links between cities and economies. Scholarly, accessible, and significant."—Newsday "This book offers a path-breaking synthesis of the vast literature on the history of urbanization."—John C. Brown, Journal of Economic Literature "One leaves this volume with the feeling of positions intelligently argued and related to the existing state of theory and knowledge. One also has the pleasure of reading a book unusually well-written. It will long both be a standard and stimulate new thought on the central issue of urban and economic growth."—Thomas A. Reiner, Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science
The authors show how a common approach that emphasizes the three-way interaction among increasing returns, transportation costs, and the movement of productive factors can be applied to a wide range of issues in urban, regional, and international economics. Since 1990 there has been a renaissance of theoretical and empirical work on the spatial aspects of the economy—that is, where economic activity occurs and why. Using new tools—in particular, modeling techniques developed to analyze industrial organization, international trade, and economic growth—this "new economic geography" has emerged as one of the most exciting areas of contemporary economics. The authors show how seemingly disparate models reflect a few basic themes, and in so doing they develop a common "grammar" for discussing a variety of issues. They show how a common approach that emphasizes the three-way interaction among increasing returns, transportation costs, and the movement of productive factors can be applied to a wide range of issues in urban, regional, and international economics. This book is the first to provide a sound and unified explanation of the existence of large economic agglomerations at various spatial scales.
This volume bridges the gap between the global promotion of the Green Economy and the manifestation of this new development strategy at the urban level. Green cities are an imperative solution, not only in meeting global environmental challenges but also in helping to ensure socio-economic prosperity at the local level.
In this eye-opening work of economic theory, Jane Jacobs argues that it is cities—not nations—that are the drivers of wealth. Challenging centuries of economic orthodoxy, in Cities and the Wealth of Nations the beloved author contends that healthy cities are constantly evolving to replace imported goods with locally-produced alternatives, spurring a cycle of vibrant economic growth. Intelligently argued and drawing on examples from around the world and across the ages, here Jacobs radically changes the way we view our cities—and our entire economy.
In a world increasingly organised as networks of cities, this book offers the first full-length treatment of the subject of managing the city economy. It explores key challenges and strategies, particularly in developing countries, where developmental deficits are greatest and almost all urban growth up to 2050 will take place. Adopting a practitioner’s perspective, theoretically grounded and international in scope, this book is unique in its focus and endeavours to connect theory with practice. Through an interdisciplinary and strategic approach, this book explores the challenges and options in managing the contemporary city economy. It aims to illustrate the extent to which appropriate policy interventions in the city economy could offer effective solutions to some of the most difficult social and environmental challenges facing cities. The book comprises five main parts. Part I sets the scene and examines contemporary processes that affect cities and explains the challenges they pose for city managers. Part II presents a selection of conceptual frameworks commonly used in urban economic analysis. Part III examines the management of sectoral growth, covering manufacturing, exports of services, transport and logistics, and real estate. Part IV addresses urban poverty, low-carbon transition and the informal economy. Part V focuses on laying the foundation for long-term city development, exploring the roles of city development strategies, municipal finance, investment in people and appropriate infrastructure. This book is designed for graduate courses in urban economic development, urban planning, urban policy and public administration, and for professionals who are involved in the management of city economies or/and conducting research, consultancy or policy advocacy for cities. Through critical review of relevant debates and a dozen case studies this book will equip city managers with the knowledge required to strengthen the performance of their city economy while delivering authentic and sustainable development.
Culture is big business. It is at the root of many urban regeneration schemes throughout the world, yet the economy of culture is under-theorized and under-developed. In this wide-ranging and penetrating volume, the economic logic and structure of the modern cultural industries is explained. The connection between cultural production and urban-industrial concentration is demonstrated and the book shows why global cities are the homelands of the modern cultural industries. This book covers many sectors of cultural economy, from craft industries such as clothing and furniture, to modern media industries such as cinema and music recording. The role of the global city as a source of creative and innovative energy is examined in detail, with particular attention paid to Paris and Los Angeles.
Cities and the Knowledge Economy is an in-depth, interdisciplinary, international and comparative examination of the relationship between knowledge and urban development in the contemporary era. Through the lenses of promise, politics and possibility, it examines how the knowledge economy has arisen, how different cities have sought to realise its potential, how universities play a role in its realisation and, overall, what this reveals about the relationship between politics, capitalism, space, place and knowledge in cities. The book argues that the 21st century city has been predicated on particular circuits of knowledge that constitute expertise as residing in elite and professional epistemic communities. In contrast, alternative conceptions of the knowledge society are founded on assumptions which take analysis, deliberation, democracy and the role of the citizen and communities of practice seriously. Drawing on a range of examples from cities around the world, the book reflects on these possibilities and asks what roles the practice of ‘active intermediation’, the university and a critical and engaged social scientific practice can all play in this process. The book is aimed at researchers and students from different disciplines – geography, politics, sociology, business studies, economics and planning – with interests in contemporary urbanism and the role of knowledge in understanding development, as well as urban policymakers, politicians and practitioners who are concerned with the future of our cities and seek to create coalitions of different communities oriented towards more just and sustainable futures.