URBAN ECONOMICS II

Cities in the European Economy

The course will address the issue of the role of cities in the European economy. The cities and metropolitan areas of the largest European countries will be compared as to their economic performances by using a large array of variables. At the end ofthe course students will have an understannding of the economic dimension of the European urban system. The course will be entirely in English. It can be inserted in the 'study plan' without having passed (or attended) "Urban Economics 1' (which my be convenient for Erasmus students in particular).

Level: post-graduate; hours of teaching: 44; period: 2° semester; language: English.

Laboratory: A laboratory focusing on quantitative reasoning and statistical methods for urban economics will constitute a key part of the course.

Lecturing period: April 4- May 19, 2011

Lectures Time: Monday 14.30-16.30; Tuesday 14.30-16.30; Wednesday 14.30-16.30; Thursday 10.30-12.30.

Room: T7.

Tutorial: mercoledì 16.30-18.30; giovedì 14.30-18.30.

Course Outline

By signing the "Leipzig Charter on Sustainable European Cities" EU Member States initiated a new phase in the history of regional and territorial policy in Europe . Within the new European Union's policy framework cities are now fully acknowledged as fundamental levels of intervention and their governments recognised as key actors in the policy arena. This significant change of perspective is to be explained with regards to the radical transformation that globalisation is generating on the economic and social structure of European cities. Unemployment, poverty, social imbalances and environmental disruption are phenomena that are becoming widespread in many European cities and require a new generation of urban policies to be tackled. At the same time, this change of paradigms was required by the role that large cities are expected to play in the "global competition".

The first part of the course, by analysing the "relevant" documents published by the European Union in the field of regional policy in the past decade, will discuss the role which is being assigned to cities in the policy framework of the EU Member States. Some knowledge on the conceptual foundations and administrative procedures of the European territorial policy will be also imparted.

In the second part of the course an overview of the current state of European cities will be proposed, focusing on the emerging economic imbalances and challenges posed by the internationalisation and the changing structure of the European economy. By making extended use of the Urban Audit Data Set, the focus will be on the recent overall performances expressed in terms of economic development of a selected set of European cities.

In the third part of the course the relationship between urban and regional development in a number of European states will be analysis in more detail and on a comparative basis.

The course aims at giving a general introduction to the "European urban question" and to the conceptual/political foundations of the policy framework on which European urban and territorial policies are based.

Laboratory

By making use of the statistical package STATA, to which they will gain familiarity through lessons and tutorials, students will learn how to design and conduct quantitative analyses of urban phenomena. Both the graphic visualisation (bar graph, histogram, twoway graphs, box plot, ecc.) and and statistical relationship (correlation, linear regression, ecc) will be covered in the Lab. The Lab is application-oriented and the focus is on analysing the performances of European cities.

Calendary

1. La 1 Cities in the European Economy: An Overview

2. Cities and Metropolitan Regions in Europe

3. The 'Polycentrism' of the European Urban System

4. The European Urban System: A Quantitative Survey (I)

5. The European Urban System: A Quantitative Survey (II)

6. Cities' Economic Performances: The EU's Evaluation Paradigm

7. Understanding European Cities' Development Potentials (I)

8. Understanding European Cities' Development Potentials (II)

9. The Coming Challenges: Adapting to External Changes (I)

10. The Coming Challenges: Adapting to External Changes (II)

11. The Coming Challenges: Up-grading the Economic performances (I)

12. The Coming Challenges: Up-grading the Economic performances (II)

13. Development, Stagnation and Decline in European Cities (I)

14. Development, Stagnation and Decline in European Cities (II)

15. Regional Patterns of Urban Performances (I)

16. Regional Patterns of Urban Performances (II)

17. Social Cohesion in Europen Cities (I)

18. Social Cohesion in Europen Cities (II)

19. Cities in the European Policy Framework (I)

20. Cities in the European Policy Framework (II)

21. Cities in the European Policy Framework (III)

22. The Future of the European Cities città come sistema economico

Readings

• Antonio G. Calafati, European Cities' Development Trajectories: A Methodological Framework, DG Regio, Issue paper, December 2010.

• Antonio G. Calafati, Cities in the European Policy Framework, manuscript, 2011

• European Commission, State of the European Cities Report, Research Report, 2007.

• European Commission, Toward an urban agenda in the European Union, COM(1997).

• European Commission, Sustainable Urban Development in the European Union: A Framework for Action, COM(1998) 605 final.

• European Commission, Cities and the Lisbon Agenda: Assessing the Performances of Cities, Research Report, 2005.

• European Commission (European Union), Cohesion policy and cities: the urban contribution to growth and jobs in the regions, COM(2006) 385 final.

• Leipzig Charter on Sustainable European Cities, Leipzig 24/25 May 2007.

Assignments

To pass the exam students have to:

a) write an essay of about 2500-4000 words on one of the themes indicated in the following list (see the list); students are expected to write the essay in English; the essay should be sent to the lecturer by e-mail (a.g.calafati@univpm.it) at least a week in advance of the date of the oral examination; in writing the essay please refer to the following 'Guidelines';

b) sustain an oral examination: consisting in the discussion of the essay; the discussion can be held either in English or in Italian.