Economically Healthy Cities

Work on this topic draws primarily from Jane Jacobs' book Cities and the Wealth of Nations (1984), and focuses on defining and describing the economic concepts she uses to discuss the growth, stagnation, and decline of cities. Three students represented their synthesis with a causal model/diagram.

Angela Menegay, a 2nd year Environmental Science student, identified the following factors in Ms. Jacobs's work that lead to the development and expansion of a city:

level of improvisation

urbanization of economic life

extent of import-replacing

volatile city trading networks

level of trade with cities in similar circumstances and stage of development

availability of imports for the process of import replacing

replacement of imports from other small cities

capacity to generate more exports

Ted Blake (2nd year Interdisciplinary Studies) found a discussion of three types of cities in Ms. Jacobs's work, and discussed the characteristics of each.

Cities that decline

Cities that fail to develop

Cities that prosper

Clyde Alston (3rd year Planning) identified adaptation and the existence of potentially replaceable imports as critical in creating a import-replacing economy.

Stephanie Singleton (3rd year Architecture Major) highlights critical components of economically healthy cities discussed in Jacobs's work.