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Systems of Cities

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Abstract

Research on systems of cities examines five issues. How do cities form and what are the agglomeration benefits driving city formation and sizes? Second, in a hierarchy of cities, what is the role of big versus small cities? Third, how does a system of cities evolve under economic and population growth; and how does urban growth based on localized knowledge spillovers potentially define national economic growth? Fourth, how do governance, institutions, and public policy affect city formation and sizes? Finally where do cities locate and what the effects of history, climate and natural resource location?

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Acknowledgment

I thank Yannis Ioannides and Will Strange for helpful comments on the first draft.

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© 2018 Macmillan Publishers Ltd.

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Vernon Henderson, J. (2018). Systems of Cities. In: The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95189-5_2537

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