Urban Growth and Structural Evolution: The Role of Dynamic Agglomeration Economies

Journal title SCIENZE REGIONALI
Author/s Roberto Camagni, Roberta Capello, Andrea Caragliu
Publishing Year 2016 Issue 2016/2
Language Italian Pages 21 P. 15-35 File size 308 KB
DOI 10.3280/SCRE2016-002002
DOI is like a bar code for intellectual property: to have more infomation click here

Below, you can see the article first page

If you want to buy this article in PDF format, you can do it, following the instructions to buy download credits

Article preview

FrancoAngeli is member of Publishers International Linking Association, Inc (PILA), a not-for-profit association which run the CrossRef service enabling links to and from online scholarly content.

Agglomeration economies play a fundamental role in the explanation of urban growth. However, recent theoretical approaches present some contradictions. The literature, in fact, explains growth by means of a static concept of agglomeration economies, suggesting that large cities, because of their larger size and higher efficiency, automatically foster the overall performance of the system. This paper aims at overcoming this limitation, suggesting a novel theoretical approach that explains the time dynamics of urban productivity linked to city size. Theoretical expectations are empirically verified on a sample of 136 European luz; among the determinants of urban efficiency improvements, a relevant role is found to be played by the increase in urban functions and the growth of the urban system where each city is located.

Keywords: Static and dynamic agglomeration economies; structural dynamics; urban growth.

Jel codes: R11, R12

  1. Henderson V.J., 1974, «The Sizes and Types of Cities». The American Economic Review, 64, 4: 640-656.
  2. Henderson V.J., 2010, «Cities and Development». Journal of Regional Science, 50, 1: 515-540. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9787.2009.00636.x
  3. Krugman P., 1991a, Geography and Trade. Cambridge, MA: mit Press.
  4. Albouy D., 2009, «What are Cities Worth? Land Rents, Local Productivity, and the Value of Amenities». nber wp 14981: 1-32. DOI: 10.3386/w14981
  5. Alonso W., 1971, «The Economics of Urban Size». Papers of the Regional Science Association International, 26, 1: 67-83. DOI: 10.1111/j.1435-5597.1971.tb01493.x
  6. Alonso W., 1973, «Urban Zero Population Growth». Daedalus, 102, 4: 191-206.
  7. Banca Mondiale, 2009, World Development Report. Washington, D.C. Basile R., Capello R., Caragliu A., 2012, «Technological Interdependence and Regional Growth in Europe: Proximity and Synergy in Knowledge Spillovers». Papers in Regional Science, 91, 4: 697-722. DOI: 10.1111/j.1435-5957.2012.00438.x
  8. Boix R., Trullen J., 2007, «Knowledge, Networks of Cities and Growth in Regional Urban Systems». Papers in Regional Science, 86, 4: 551-574. DOI: 10.1111/j.1435-5957.2007.00139.x
  9. Burger M.J., Meijers E.J., Hoogerbrugge M.M., Masip Tresserra J., 2014, «Agglomeration Shadows and Cultural Amenities in North-West Europe». European Planning Studies, 23, 6: 1090-1109. DOI: 10.1080/09654313.2014.905002
  10. Camagni R., 1993, «From City Hierarchy to City Networks: Reflections about an Emerging Paradigm». In: Lakshmanan L.T.R., Nijkamp P. (eds.), Structure and change in the Space Economy: Festschrift in honour of Martin Beckmann. Berlin: Springer Verlag, 66-87.
  11. Camagni R., 2014, «Verso la citta metropolitana». In: ires, irpet, Eupolis, La Finanza territoriale – Rapporto 2014. Milano: FrancoAngeli, 147-164.
  12. Camagni R., Capello R., 2004, «The City Network Paradigm: Theory and Empirical Evidence». In: Capello R., Nijkamp P. (eds.), Urban Dynamics and Growth: Advances in Urban Economics. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 495-532.
  13. Camagni R., Capello R., 2013, ≪Regional Innovation Patterns and the EU Regional Policy Reform: Towards Smart Innovation Policies≫. Growth and Change, 44, 2: 355-389. DOI: 10.1111/grow.12012.
  14. Camagni R., Capello R., Caragliu A., 2013, «One or Infinite Optimal City Sizes? In Search of an Equilibrium Size for Cities». The Annals of Regional Science, 51, 2: 309-341. DOI: 10.1007/s00168-012-0548-7
  15. Camagni R., Capello R., Caragliu A., 2014, «The Rise of Second-Rank Cities: What Role for Agglomeration Economies?». European Planning Studies, 23, 6: 1-21. DOI: 10.1080/09654313.2014.904999
  16. Camagni R., Capello R., Caragliu A., 2015a, «Agglomeration Economies in Large vs Small Cities: Similar Laws, High Specifities». In: Kourtit K., Nijkamp P., Stough R.R. (eds.), The Rise of the City. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 85-113.
  17. Camagni R., Diappi L., Leonardi G., 1986, «Urban Growth and Decline in a Hierarchical System: A Supply-oriented Dynamic Approach». Regional Science and Urban Economics, 16, 1: 145-160. DOI: 10.1016/0166-0462(86)90017-7
  18. Camagni R., Gibelli M.C., 1996, «Cities in Europe: Globalisation, Sustainability and Cohesion». In: Presidenza del Consiglio dei Ministri, Dipartimento Politiche Comunitarie, European Spatial Planning. Roma: Poligrafico dello Stato, 93-179.
  19. Capello R., 2000, «The City-network Paradigm: Measuring Urban Network Externalities». Urban Studies, 37, 11: 1925-1945. DOI: 10.1080/713707232
  20. Capello R., 2002, «Urban Rent and Urban Dynamics: The Determinants of Urban Development in Italy». The Annals of Regional Science, 36, 4: 593-611. DOI: 10.1007/s001680200091
  21. Cheshire P., Sheppard S., 2002, «The Welfare Economics of Land Use Planning». Journal of Urban Economics, 52, 2: 242-269.
  22. Dijkstra L., Garcilazo E., McCann P., 2013, «The Economic Performance of European Cities and City Regions: Myths and Realities». European Planning Studies, 21, 3: 334-354. DOI: 10.1080/09654313.2012.716245
  23. eurocadres, 2015, Who are European Professional and Managerial Staff?. www.eurocadres.org/spip.php?rubrique435.
  24. Fujita M., Krugman P., Venables A., 1999, The Spatial Economy: Cities, Regions and International Trade. Cambridge, MA: mit Press.
  25. Glaeser E.L., Kallal H.D., Scheinkman J.A., Shleifer A., 1992, «Growth in Cities ». Journal of Political Economy, 100, 6: 1126-1152. DOI: 10.1086/261856
  26. Groot H.L.F. de, Marlet G., Teulings C., Vermeulen W., 2015, Cities and The Urban Land Premium. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.
  27. Hall P., Pain K., 2006, The Polycentric Metropolis: Learning from Mega-city Regions in Europe. London: Earthscan.
  28. Krugman P., 1991b, «Increasing Returns and Economic Geography». Journal of Political Economy, 99, 3: 483-499. DOI: 10.1086/261763.
  29. Melo P.C., Graham D.J., Noland R.B., 2009, «A Meta-analysis of Estimates of Urban Agglomeration Economies». Regional Science and Urban Economics, 39, 3: 332-342. DOI: 10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2008.12.002
  30. Meijers E.J., Burger M.J., Hoogerbrugge M.M., 2015, ≪Borrowing Size in Networks of Cities: City Size, Network Connectivity and Metropolitan Functions in Europe≫. Papers in Regional Science, online first. DOI: 10.1111/pirs.12181
  31. Myrdal G., 1957, Economic Theory of Underdeveloped Regions. London: Duckworth. ocse-Organizzazione per la cooperazione e lo sviluppo economico, 2006, Competitive Cities in the Global Economy. Paris: ocse.
  32. Parr J.B., 2002, «Agglomeration Economies: Ambiguities and Confusions». Environment and Planning A, 34, 4: 717-731. DOI: 10.1068/a34106
  33. Richardson H., 1972, «Optimality in City Size, Systems of Cities and Urban Policy: A Sceptic’s View». Urban Studies, 9, 1: 29-47. DOI: 10.1080/00420987220080021
  34. Richardson H., 1978, Regional and Urban Economics. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.
  35. Rietveld P., 1994, «Spatial Economic Impacts of Transport Infrastructure Supply ». Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 28, 4: 329-341. DOI: 10.1016/0965-8564(94)90007-8
  36. Rosenthal S.S., Strange W.C., 2001, «The Determinants of Agglomeration». Journal of Urban Economics, 50, 2: 191-229. DOI: 10.1006/juec.2001.2230
  37. Williamson J., 1965, «Regional Inequality and the Process of National Development ». Economic Development and Cultural Change, June, 3-45.
  38. Camagni R., Capello R., 2014, «Second-Rank City Dynamics: Theoretical Interpretations Behind Their Growth Potentials». European Planning Studies, 23,6:1041-1053 DOI: 10.1080/09654313.2014.904994
  39. Lewbel A., 2012, «Using Heteroscedasticity to Identify and Estimate Mismeasured and Endogenous Regressor Models» Journal of Business and Economic Statistics, 30, 1: 67-80. DOI: 10.1080/07350015.2012.643126

  • De la ciudad compacta a la ciudad extensa. Procesos de urbanización recientes en áreas urbanas españolas articuladas por ciudades medias Eduardo Olazabal, Carmen Bellet, in Anales de Geografía de la Universidad Complutense /2019 pp.149
    DOI: 10.5209/aguc.64681

Roberto Camagni, Roberta Capello, Andrea Caragliu, Crescita urbana e cambiamento strutturale: il ruolo delle economie di agglomerazione dinamiche in "SCIENZE REGIONALI " 2/2016, pp 15-35, DOI: 10.3280/SCRE2016-002002