The Economy of CitiesThe thesis of Jane Jacobsʹ The Economy of Cities remains remarkably fresh and provocative three decades later. Cities, she asserts, are not the result of processes most scientists and economists have assumed they were: Cities do not develop because a pre-existing rural economic base develops and eventually becomes strong enough to support an essentially parasitic urban growth. Instead, Jacobs argues, cities are the prerequisite for any kind of rural economy. Where there are no cities, there are no sustainable rural economies, and the rural economy depends on the city rather than the other way around. Jacobs defines "city" as a "settlement that consistently generates its economic growth from its own local economy"; population centers of any size that have never done this do not meet her definition of city. Likewise, Jacob defines "urban" as "pertaining only to cities ..."--Review from http://classes.seattleu.edu/multidisciplinary/urbanstudies/resource/reviews/economy.htm (Oct. 18, 2012). |
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Page 218
... ment are changing from those of the past . In spite of its destructiveness , war used not to be inherently at cross- purposes with the processes of economic development . War was not inherently incompatible with city growth and with ...
... ment are changing from those of the past . In spite of its destructiveness , war used not to be inherently at cross- purposes with the processes of economic development . War was not inherently incompatible with city growth and with ...
Page 225
... ment , and find themselves faced by a horrified , implacable and quite overwhelming mob of people frightened for their own very existence . " But the situation is worse than even this picture sug- gests . For if whites in the United ...
... ment , and find themselves faced by a horrified , implacable and quite overwhelming mob of people frightened for their own very existence . " But the situation is worse than even this picture sug- gests . For if whites in the United ...
Page 230
... ment . People are hard put to devise ways to use it . The society seems extraordinarily affluent for a time , and in a way it is . For the society is economizing on one of the most expensive things it might otherwise buy . All sorts of ...
... ment . People are hard put to devise ways to use it . The society seems extraordinarily affluent for a time , and in a way it is . For the society is economizing on one of the most expensive things it might otherwise buy . All sorts of ...
Contents
Cities FirstRural Development Later | 3 |
How New Work Begins | 49 |
The Valuable Inefficiencies and Impracticalities of Cities | 85 |
Copyright | |
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activities Adam Smith added agriculture already American Angeles animals automobile barter become exporters began bicycles Birmingham Boston bought branch plants brassiere breakaways build capital Çatal Hüyük centers century city economies city growth city's exports cloth company towns course craft craftsmen customers depot Detroit developing economies development rate divisions of labor econ economic development efficient embryonic city enterprises episode of import equipment existing expanding market explosive export exporting organizations factory farming financing grain growing guilds happens Harappa hunting import replacing industry initial export kinds little cities logic London Los Angeles machines makers Manchester manufacturing mass-production medieval cities Mellaart ment merchants Mohenjo-daro multiplier effect nomic numbers Obsidian older plant population ports rapidly reciprocating system replacing imports rural world seeds settlements shifted stagnation started sulfuric acid sumer suppliers supply things Thiokol tion Tokyo trade Urartu velopment villages wastes wild food workers York