Inside the City: On Urbanisation, Public Policy and Planning

A basic frame of reference for reconsideration of the urban question is presented, with an emphasis on the city as a collectivity whose character is derived from a spatially organised system of increasing returns effects and social needs. The logic of the city as a locus of accumulation and social reproduction in the modern economy is then discussed. Here, special attention is paid to the dynamics of intraurban production space and social space, and to the complex interrelations between the two. The concomitant shape and form of urban public policy are subject to investigation. Three major dilemmas and their underlying etiology are subject to scrutiny. These are: the fragility of localised competitive advantage in a globalising world; the widening social divide with its many-sided negative consequences on urban life; and, the growing mismatch between the internal geography of the city and the institutions of urban governance. The paper concludes with a comment on the implications of the new cognitive-cultural economy for understanding urban dynamics and problems.