PA 8010 Urban Economic and Spatial Structure

Course Description

Urban scholars have long sought to comprehend and explain the economic forces that give rise to cities through processes of urbanization, and impact the spatial dynamics of urban form and development. Not surprisingly, scholars have adapted these theories over time to reflect the changing circumstances facing cities, from changes to urban economic structure and function to technological shifts to changing patterns of land use and the built environment. As with any body of theory, the fundamental question is whether the new theories add explanatory power to our understanding of the “facts on the ground” in relation to
existing theories.

This course is designed to introduce students to both seminal theoretical works, and contemporary debates, around these fundamental questions of urban growth and change. Although our focus is on the “economic,” our disciplinary scope will be relatively broad, encompassing scholarship in economics, geography, urban planning, and urban sociology. While this course is not an urban economics course per se, it is assumed that you have at least some rudimentary knowledge of microeconomic concepts; if not, you will likely need to backfill some of this along the way.

Course Objectives

Upon successful completion of this course, students should be able to:

1. Be able to interpret and critique economic analyses in current urban policy research
2. Understand how different factors influence the size and growth of cities
3. Understand the various contemporary policy issues in urban areas
4. Become aware that there are many different schools of economic thought and dominant theories have
   changed over time