Urban Economics, City Development, and Sustainability

Dear Colleagues, 

Cities are acknowledged as the main source of pollution and environmental degradation and so a major contribution to global warming. As a result, there has been a significant policy focus on generating more sustainable urban forms. Policymakers have widely seen the solution as high-density compactness, but there have been major question marks about its social acceptability and economic viability. This is particularly in the light of the strength of longstanding decentralising forces and compactness on the impact on real estate values and urban economic growth.

There is also the challenge of adapting existing urban forms. One way is to create ‘walkable neighbourhoods’ whereby work and services are close by, but is this realistic/viable? In addition, the issue of compactness varies in different parts of the world with the densities of cities varying across continents, suggesting that there is not a universal perspective on what is an acceptable compact form.

Polycentric urban forms have been proffered as an alternative solution, but arguably, they depend on high-quality and cheap public transport between centres. Are there any successful examples of polycentric city regions that improve sustainability while promoting economic growth? It also raises a wider issue of how the spatial pattern of urban centres within regions or even countries contributes to urban sustainability.

A key question for urban sustainability is the role of the motor car, with ownership and use high in Western economies. Car ownership and rising real incomes have been a major cause of decentralised urban forms, with long commutes creating pollution. With the emergence of electric cars and a reduction in commuting/working from home stimulated by the pandemic, is the nature of the urban sustainability problem being transformed? Is there any evidence that these changes are generating an urban economic solution, for example, through small, self-contained localities, that addresses the disadvantages of urban decentralisation?

Further technological change has seen the rise of online retail sales, which has contributed to the decline of physical shopping centres. This phenomenon raises questions about urban sustainability: on the one hand, personal shopping trips are reduced, and replaced by van deliveries; on the other hand, the viability of town centres is undermined.

With the fundamentals of the spatial economy and city development changing as technology adapts work patterns and shopping, do we need to rethink economic solutions to the urban sustainability challenge?

Finally, climate change in parts of the world could threaten long-term real estate investment decisions and the sustainability of urban development.

This Special Issue welcomes contributions that address these questions.

Prof. Dr. Colin A. Jones
Guest Editor

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• urban economies
• city development
• sustainable urban forms
• adapting cities
• real estate investment