The Rise and Fall of Urban Economies
The Rise and Fall of Urban Economies

Author: Michael Storper

Publisher: Stanford University Press

Published: 2015-09-02

Total Pages: 324

ISBN-13: 0804796025

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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.

Global California
Global California

Author: Abraham F. Lowenthal

Publisher: Stanford University Press

Published: 2009-02-25

Total Pages: 300

ISBN-13: 0804770441

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California is at the cutting edge of technological change, demographic transformation, and international engagement. It has the country's largest population, and is its biggest producer of agricultural and manufactured goods, its main exporter and importer, and a leading center for higher education, research, the media, and philanthropy. Its population is the most international; more than a quarter of the state's residents were born in another country. But habits of thought and structures date from the mid-twentieth century, when California was turned inward. California today lacks ideas, institutions, and policies commensurate with its global stakes and clout. Global California addresses an important subject: how the citizens of a state with the dimensions and power of a nation are affected by international trends, and what they can do to identify and promote their own interests in a rapidly changing world. In this fresh, well-informed, and balanced analysis, Abraham Lowenthal deals with numerous thorny issues—from globalization, trade, and infrastructure to immigration, environmental pollution, climate change, and California's ties with neighboring Mexico and the dynamic Asian economies. A recognized authority on foreign affairs, Lowenthal argues that the real choices are not whether to cheer globalization or condemn it. Rather, Californians need to think strategically and act effectively to gain as much as possible from international engagement while managing its risks and costs. They need to build "cosmopolitan capacity" to understand and respond to global challenges and opportunities. Too much is at stake for California—its citizens, government, firms and non-governmental organizations—to leave thinking and acting on international affairs to the federal government and to East Coast think tank experts. This volume shows Californians how to succeed in an ever more interconnected world.

Urban Competitiveness in Developing Economies
Urban Competitiveness in Developing Economies

Author: Peter Karl Kresl

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2020-06-08

Total Pages: 209

ISBN-13: 0429811985

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Plenty has been written on the competitiveness of megacities, capital cities, and regional hubs. Cities in developing countries have not yet received the same attention – this book fills that gap. An international team of expert academics have come together to present a comprehensive study of the competitiveness of cities in the developing world. Spanning Asia, Africa, and Latin America, this book homes in on specific city cases and examines how they relate to the rest of the global economy. The focus is on acknowledging their unique contexts, while drawing out commonalities, and ultimately identifying ways for them to enhance their competitiveness, wellbeing, and sustainability. This volume will be valuable reading to advanced students, researchers, and policymakers in urban and regional studies, economic geography, and economic development.

Global Industry Chains: Creating a Networked City Planet
Global Industry Chains: Creating a Networked City Planet

Author: Pengfei Ni

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2021-07-02

Total Pages: 632

ISBN-13: 981162058X

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This report presents the outcomes of a survey project of the National Academy of Economic Strategy of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme. The project evaluated and ranked the competitiveness of 1,007 global cities, with a combined population of over 500,000, based on a number of selected indicators. The report provides an overview of the global urbanization pattern and areas of improvements in the selected cities. The outcomes of the project confirm that the formation and changes of global value chains have caused profound changes in economic structures in some countries and affected the development of cities in these countries, thereby reshaping the city planet. In addition to comparative analysis of competitiveness of cities, this report also sheds light on the global pattern and trends of economic and human development. It reveals four new findings regarding the development of cities around the world: First, over the past four decades, human societies are transitioning quickly from agricultural societies which are characterized by scattered settlements to industrial societies which are characterized by city clusters, interconnectivity, and resource sharing. The planet where we are living has become a city planet. Second, globalization and the advancements of smart and networking technologies have accelerated urbanization across the world in the past four decades. Third, cities are becoming increasingly metropolitan, interconnected, and smart. Fourth, sustainability scores of the selected global cities show olive-shaped distribution on the world map and sustainability performance of Asia cities has improved continuously.

Handbook of Regions and Competitiveness
Handbook of Regions and Competitiveness

Author: Robert Huggins

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Published: 2017-03-31

Total Pages: 592

ISBN-13: 1783475013

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The aim of this Handbook is to take stock of regional competitiveness and complementary concepts as a means of presenting a state-of-the-art discussion of the contemporary theories, perspectives and empirical explanations that help make sense of the determinants of uneven development across regions. Drawing on an international field of leading scholars, the book is assembled and organized so that readers can first learn about the theoretical underpinnings of regional competitiveness and development theory, before moving on to deeper discussions of key factors and principal elements, the emergence of allied concepts, empirical applications, and the policy context.