Neoclassical economics, the intellectual bedrock of modern capitalism, faces growing criticisms, as many of its key assumptions and policy prescriptions are systematically challenged. Yet, there remains one field of economics where these limitations continue virtually unchallenged: the study of cities and regions in built-environment economics.
In this book, Franklin Obeng-Odoom draws on institutional, Georgist, and Marxist economics to clearly but comprehensively show what the key issues are today in thinking about urban economics. In doing so, he demonstrates the widespread tensions and contradictions in the status quo, demonstrating how to reconstruct urban economics in order to create a more just society and environment.
Author(s): Franklin Obeng-Odoom
Publisher: Zed Books
Year: 2016
Language: English
Pages: 256
Tags: economics, urban economics
Cover
About the author
Title page
Copyright
Contents
Figures and Tables
Preface
Dedication
Introduction: dissent and reconstruction
Introduction
Aims of the book
Structure and roadmap of the book
Part One. Establishing principles for urban progress
1. Scaffolding the principles and values of reconstruction
Introduction
The built environment and urban economics
Institutional political economy
General guiding framework for the rest of the book
Conclusion
2. The urban challenge
Introduction
Formation of cities
Institutionalist, Marxist, and Georgist assessments of urban growth and urban systems
Conclusion
3. The urban economy
Introduction
Economic base/basic, non-basic
A neoclassical urban economic anatomy and spatial microeconomics
A Marxist urban economics approach
The framing of the urban economy used for this book
Conclusion
Part Two. Analysing material conditions in cities
4. Urban economic growth: globalisation, trade, and convergence
Introduction
The spatial economy: cities, international trade, and globalisation
Institutions, globalisation, and cities
Urban economic growth, distribution, and employment
Conclusion
5. Informal economies
Introduction
Informal economy: the concept
Work experiences in informal economies
The causes of the informal economy: dualism, legalism, or structuralism?
The real informal economies
Moving forward: the state, revolution, consensus, or challenge?
Conclusion
6. Urban poverty; socio-spatial inequality
Introduction
Mainstream ‘theories’ about the causes of urban poverty
Growth that is neither employment-generating nor poverty-reducing
Symptoms of poverty; culture of poverty
Socio-spatial inequality and land economy
Institutions of capitalism
Routes less travelled
Conclusion
Part Three. Creating a socio-ecologically sensitive future
7. Housing
Introduction
Demand-side and supply-side reformist policies
(Mis)conceptualisations and limitations of demand and supply-side housing policies
The right to adequate housing
Conclusion
8. Homo automobilus
(Re)conceptualising housing: housing markets and housing systems
Introduction
The case for automobility
Questioning automobility
On the road to change: post automobility?
Conclusion
9. Sustainable urban development
Introduction
Sustainable development: a review of the dominant views
Political economic perspectives
Georgism: systemic redistribution and comprehensive socio-ecological spending
Conclusion
Conclusion: towards a political economy of the built environment
Managing the city economy: towards the good city
References
Index
