lecture 3 Flashcards
what is urban economy?
the production, distribution, excange and consumption of goods and service within the urban society
what are important links between urbanization and the economy?
cities have important functions
urban economy attracts people
urban economies drives of economic developments and wealth
urban growth results from urban economic growth and vice versa
what are the two means of obtaining power in early cities?
appropriation of agricultural surpluses
long distance trade
what are the three important theories on societal collaps?
environmental conditions
moral decay and outside attacks
social theory: elite competition
what important changes are there in urbanization?
rise of industrial capitalism
improvement living standard in industrialized areas
huge population growth from the end of the 18th century
when does urban growth stop according to davis s curve?
developing countries face problems of sustaining population
developed contries will shift to suburbanization and peripheral development
why do we have to focus on Europe and China in the great divergence?
- They are equally advanced economies
- Parallel growth in commerce, population and agricultural productivity
Economic power: agricultural surplus
*Wealth of early cities provided by
surplus of farmers
* Taxation by urban rulers
* Forced labour
* Cities provide services in exchange
Economic power: long-distance trade
- Rulers in cities aimed at increasing prestige
- Accumulation of prestige goods
Long distance trade: import of raw materials and
luxury products
what is the result of Early urban economies fragile?
most early urban economies
collapsed
Early urban economies fragile
- Dependence on extraction of rural
resources - Coercion could lead to resistance
- Prestige economy: problems with
legitimacy
Link between urbanization and big cities and
sustained growth not clear: (1300-1800)
- Differences between regions
- Ability to attract surplus from agriculture differs per city
what is a producer city?
the production and exchange of goods and commercial service with the city’s hinterland and other cities
what is a consumer city?
a centre of government and military protection and occupation which supplies service in return for taxes, land rent and non-market transitions
whos theory were the producer and consumer city?
max weber
what did max weber argue?
he argued that cultural factors were to cause the divergence. he argued religious was a driven force of economic growth
Latin America until 18oo:
- Large capital cities
- Coercion-oriented
- Centralized system of control: colonial empires
North America until 1800:
- Late urbanization and less sizeable cities
- Market-oriented
- Decentralized system of control
Japan and china
Mixed systems
- High level of urbanization
- Centralized system of control
- Consumer and Producer cities
(coercion-oriented and marketoriented
Middle East 800-1800
- The first big cities
- Highest level of urbanization around 900
- Strong centralized system of control
- Capital cities dominant
Europe 800-1800
- Large cities and urbanization only after ca. 900
- Low urbanization level before 800, developing after 900
- Fragmented political system
- Capital cities, but in some regions they become market-oriented (producer cities).
Western Europe 800-1800
Differences within Europe
- Decentralized coercion vs decentralized marketorientation
Conclusion of Van Bavel et al. (ch. 21):
- Centralization of power
- Concentration of power in a few cities
- Weak local institutions
what was the result of undustialization?
level urbanization Western Europe and North America surpasses the rest of the world
what did Kingsley Davis (1965) say?
- Urbanization is caused by rural-urban migration
- Industrialization linked to the growth of cities
- S-curve of urbanization
Revision of Kingsley Davis:
- The living standard of people in developing
countries rises - Developed countries faced with declining
populations - Link between high level of urbanization and
industrialization?
Western cities: (max weber)
- Citizenship communities
- Autonomous
- Market orientation > Producer cities
Oriental Cities (China, Japan) (max weber)
- No citizenship community
- Bureaucratic kingdom-city
- Coercion and despotism > Consumer cities
what did Robert Allen (1983) say?
- Application scientific knowledge to
innovative practices (steam engine, weaving
machines) - Spread of an engineering culture
- Entrepreneurial business elite (merchants,
professionals, manufacturers, landowners)
Reasons for great divergence
An urban entrepreneurial elite that benefited from surpluses
A culture of invention and engineering
Reduced role of government
Qing empire had paternalistic policies that favored lower classes and prevented accumulation of wealth
Urban entrepreneurs left to become gentry once they were rich
Religious rebellions in the 19th century
