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1 results

  • 2 - How Cities Evolve

  • Stephanie E. Chang, University of British Columbia
  • Book:
    Legacy in the Landscape
    Published online:
    11 November 2025
    Print publication:
    11 September 2025, pp 13-29

  • Summary

    Cities are economic entities. Their location, functioning, growth, decline, and internal structure are all heavily influenced by economic forces. This chapter draws from the fields of urban economics, economic geography, and regional science in order to present some core concepts of urban growth and change organized around three questions: Why are cities where they are? What drives urban growth and change? And how does a city grow across a landscape? Foundational concepts (e.g., first and second nature, competition between cities, agglomeration economies, density gradients, transport technology and urban form, the monocentric city model, nonmarket forces) are explained narratively and illustrated through examples from cities around the world. A key message is that the economic logic of urban development is constrained by geography, enabled by technology, and shaped by human institutions, including urban planning. The chapter emphasizes that the urban built environment at risk from hazards is a tangible accumulation of the city’s economic history.