EBOOK
The Wealth of Cities and the Poverty of Nations
Christof ParnreiterSeries: Economic Transformations(0)
About
Cities are seen as essentially "good": innovative, pro-growth, poverty-reducing. In a challenging corrective to this common portrayal, Christof Parnreiter argues that the same urban properties which make cities so extraordinarily proficient at producing the "good" innovations – agglomeration economies, network externalities and a massive built environment – also provides fertile ground for the development of the "bad" ones, on which urban elites have syphoned off wealth from other localities and regions.
The book scrutinizes the interconnections between wealth creation and poverty generation by putting cities centre stage as a fundamental explanatory category for understanding how the wealth of nations is produced as well as for grasping how the poverty of nations is created. It seeks to correct the developmentalist enthusiasm, commonplace in urban and regional studies, for cities' efficiency, which has displaced interest in cities' role in uneven development.
The book scrutinizes the interconnections between wealth creation and poverty generation by putting cities centre stage as a fundamental explanatory category for understanding how the wealth of nations is produced as well as for grasping how the poverty of nations is created. It seeks to correct the developmentalist enthusiasm, commonplace in urban and regional studies, for cities' efficiency, which has displaced interest in cities' role in uneven development.
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Reviews
"The main objective of this book is to rebalance our understanding of cities… Parnreiter offers a rich, varied and cogent discussion that touches on the transition from feudalism to capitalism, the ideas of Adam Smith and Karl Marx, the world-systems thinking of Fernand Braudel, André Gunder Frank and Immanuel Wallerstein, and much more… The book is well-written and well-structured, and can be use
Ben Derudder, Regional Studies
"A timely and refreshing account recalibrating the theoretical debate about cities and (uneven) development... a must read... clearly structured, well argued, not overly long, and well written... it deserves praise for offering important theoretical advancements about why and how cities can become the preferred sites for the organization of capitalist exploitation of nonelite inhabitants... a grea
David Bassens, AAG Review of Books
"Warmly recommended to anyone interested in a theoretically sound, critical understanding of the role of cities in capitalism... Christof Parnreiter questions the triumphalist claims that cities bring universal prosperity and are the solution to just about every problem... yes, cities generate innovation and wealth. But they only do so because they are, as the command centers of global capitalism,
Bernd Belina, Geographica Helvetica
Extended Details
- SeriesEconomic Transformations