This course introduces students to different ways of understanding the dynamics of the growth and development of the urban system and its relation to the national economy. National and urban economic policy,
urban growth and land use, market imperfections, class polarization, and other issues are considered. The concept of “paradigm,” or school of thought, is utilized to establish the notion of alternative, or contending, schools of thought within urban economics,
and two alternative schools are explored in detail — the neoclassical and political economic perspectives.
