Thursday, February 14, 2013

Week 4: Sticky Agglomerations


Quigley: Are agglomerations about size, density or both? Do agglomerations benefit all city areas? No. Why? Negative agglomerations? Neighborhood factor? What scale of agglomeration matters? Extremely high density, nodal, low? Benefits are not just from size (declining large cities); however, how can declining cities NOT capture more value from large agglomerations? The research, even considering human capital, is based on production; what about the economic shift (broad production base to highly agglomerated, high-end production; broad consumption-driven, service-based economy)? Points of consumption agglomerate (particularly as transportation costs rise); however, what about the internet as a different agglomerating force (placeless consumption / production).

What about agglomerations for humans as social beings? Can social capital be an agglomerating force for residential or is it destructive?

Equilibrium vs. increasing returns to scale. Optimal city size is unknown, but there is a pattern for size (Zipf's Law). Does the city follow living systems with finite lifespan vs. mass: WATCH THIS!

Enhanced local amenities / benefits of agglomeration and maintaining a flexible workforce should reduce wages (not observed). Can agglomeration attract too many? Why no tragedy of the commons?

Human capital = education = universities  economic growth. Growth near universities favors services from massively subsidized consumption. 


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