This book locates the legacy of spatial injustices inherited from apartheid’s social, political and economic engineering as the central cause of the challenges which are holding the country back. Its proposed solution is total national spatial construction, to be spawned by the creation of many new mega city regions that will germinate new economies for South Africa and the rest of the continent--Back cover.

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.

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.

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.

Cities and Economies explores the complex and subtle connections between cities and economies. The rise of the merchant city, the development of the industrial city and the creation of the service-dominated urban economy are all explored, along with economic globalization and its effects on cities in both developed and developing economies. This book provides a thorough examination of the role of the city in shaping economic processes and explains the different effects that economies have on cities. It provides an invaluable and unrivaled guide to the relationship between urban structure and economic processes as they compare and contrast across the world. The authors examine the complex relationships between the city and the economy in historical and global contexts, as well as evaluating the role of world cities, the economic impacts of megacities and the role of the state in shaping urban economic policies. They focus on the ways in which cities have led, and at the same time adapted to, economic shifts. Large cities are viewed as the centres of regional and national economies, while a small number are defined by their centrality in the global economy. The book: examines key ideas and concepts on the economic aspects of urban change explores the changing nature of urban economies and their relationships with changes at the national and global levels compares current economic issues and policies of large cities around the world explores the links between globalization and economic changes in cities and the growing competitions between them. Cities and Economies uses case studies, photographs and maps expanding across the US, Western Europe and Asia. Written in a clear and accessible style, the book answers some fundamental questions about the economic role of cities. It is an essential text for students of geography, economics, sociology, urban studies and urban planning.

Across the US, cities and metropolitan areas are facing huge economic and competitive challenges that Washington won't, or can't, solve. The good news is that networks of metropolitan leaders – mayors, business and labor leaders, educators, and philanthropists – are stepping up and powering the nation forward. These state and local leaders are doing the hard work to grow more jobs and make their communities more prosperous, and they're investing in infrastructure, making manufacturing a priority, and equipping workers with the skills they need. In The Metropolitan Revolution, Bruce Katz and Jennifer Bradley highlight success stories and the people behind them. · New York City: Efforts are under way to diversify the city's vast economy · Portland: Is selling the "sustainability" solutions it has perfected to other cities around the world · Northeast Ohio: Groups are using industrial-age skills to invent new twenty-first-century materials, tools, and processes · Houston: Modern settlement house helps immigrants climb the employment ladder · Miami: Innovators are forging strong ties with Brazil and other nations · Denver and Los Angeles: Leaders are breaking political barriers and building world-class metropolises · Boston and Detroit: Innovation districts are hatching ideas to power these economies for the next century The lessons in this book can help other cities meet their challenges. Change is happening, and every community in the country can benefit. Change happens where we live, and if leaders won't do it, citizens should demand it. The Metropolitan Revolution was the 2013 Foreword Reviews Bronze winner for Political Science.

This research is predicated upon a spatial policy concern regarding the current post-apartheid urban experiences in South Africa. Based on what has been analyzed and critiqued thus far in terms of this situation, the policy concern has to do with the need to drastically redirect South Africa’s patterns of urban development in ways that can foster integrated and sustainable socio-economic development. ☐ This is a qualitative research study. The central questions that have been posed in this regard are: What are the current patterns of urban development in South Africa? How did they come about and what sustains them? What are the impediments in the current policies and implementation plans, which make urban development patterns in South Africa unable to deliver equitable and inclusive socio-economic outcomes that are consistent with the creation of a just society? And what are the core principles and features of a new policy framework that can guide a more equitable, just and sustainable pattern of urban development in South Africa? How does the development of new cities in South Africa anchor such a new policy framework? ☐ This has paved the way for the crafting of a policy framework, anchored on the creation of new cities, which is aimed at redirecting patterns of urban development in South Africa. The New Cities – New Economies thesis is a proposition that is aimed at fueling the long overdue economic growth and transformation of the South African society. It is the gestation of an economic revolution. It is indeed a Grand Plan, which will not only serve South Africa but has potential to reverberate across the entire African continent. This Grand Plan is the promise of the South Africa we yearn for, the Africa we want. ☐ New cities herald new economies, new economies yield jobs and empowerment and therefore destroy both poverty and apartheid economic legacy. The new cities should have a symbiotic relationship with the economy. As new cities herald new economies; new economies will anchor and sustain new cities. These are egalitarian cities. Egalitarian cities are equitable cities that promote cohabitation, where people share in the wealth of their nations.