Growth Of Small Cities Research Articles

Nonlinear Spatial Dynamic Panel Data Models with Endogenous Dominant Units: An Application to Share Data

This article develops a nonlinear spatial dynamic panel data model with one particularly interesting application to a structural interaction model for share data. To account for effects from dominant (popular) units, the spatial weights matrix in our model can allow for unbounded column sums. To account for heterogeneity, our model includes two-way fixed effects and heteroscedastic errors. We further consider the potential endogeneity of the spatial weight matrix constructed from socioeconomic distance. We investigate the quasi-maximum likelihood estimator (QMLE), generalized methods of moments estimator (GMME), and root estimator (RTE), and establish their consistency and asymptotic normality based on the near epoch dependence (NED) framework. The RTE can derive a relatively computationally simple and closed-form solution without evaluating the QMLE’s Jacobian matrix as well as the iterations by GMME. We consider both n , T → ∞ , and the strength of the dominant units is equal to 1 when T → ∞ . For the purpose of empirical analysis, we derive the marginal effects and their limiting distributions based on the proposed estimators. In an empirical application, we apply our model to China’s prefecture city-level data, revealing significant spillover effects of the tertiary industry share. These findings suggest that the development of the tertiary sector in large cities can foster its growth in small cities.

Growth in small cities: the case of Aragon (Spain)

In this paper, we analyse the effects of productive specialisation and diversity on population growth at the local level in Aragon, a NUTS 2 region in Spain. is region is characterised by a highly uneven population distribution, with numerous small cities, and a large proportion of small businesses. We estimate panel data models considering data from 2000 to 2015 at the local level, encompassing 577 municipalities. Our results show that both localisation and urbanisation have a statistically significant positive effect on growth in Aragonese municipalities but only in cities with a population threshold of 3,000 or more inhabitants.

Development networks and urban growth in small cities

Real estate development is an intensely social process dependent on rich networks of relations between public and private sector actors. Previous work has explored how far such relations are formalised in large cities through shared coalitions of interest intended to promote urban growth. Relatively little attention has been given to networks in smaller cities, which is the concern of this paper. Drawing on detailed research in a small Scottish city, the paper explores how its local network was characterised by strong reliance on network construction and reproduction through trust and reputation. Significantly, within such local networks, competition and collaboration can exist side by side, without subsuming normal tensions into consistent agendas or formally defined ‘partnerships’. Controlling land for urban expansion provides a particular focus for these tensions, since it can allow certain interests to gain network dominance. These findings raise important concerns around whether small cities should rely on informal networks to promote growth instead of constructing formal coalitions that may attract more externally based actors. Such choices have profound implications for the capacity and transparency of development networks, and thus for the accountability of the urban development process.

Size and urban growth of Chinese cities during the era of transformation toward a market economy

The paper examines the growth of Chinese cities at prefecture level or above by first applying a non-parametric method. Kernel regression of the mean of growth rate conditional on city size reveals a U-shaped relationship between city growth and size, and rejects Gibrat’s law. That is to say that large cities take the form of divergent growth while small cities are convergent to each other. This U-shaped growth–size relationship holds for the registered ( hukou) population in 1989–2012 as well as for the permanent population in 1999–2012. Furthermore, our results show that the growth of large cities becomes more divergent using the permanent population than using the hukou population, whereas the growth of small cities becomes less convergent. The permanent population counts a portion of floating population, so it is then concluded that rural–urban migrants move to large cities disproportionately, making large cities grow faster than small cities. Estimated results from rank–size OLS regression confirm the divergent growth of large cities, and, at the same time, reject the notion of random growth of Chinese cities (which is also supported by panel root tests). Our findings have profound policy implications. The national strategy of urbanization that stresses the growth control of mega and super-big cities has had no effect in the past and may continue to be ineffective in shaping the urbanization trajectory in China in the next couple of decades. Sustainable urbanization will depend largely on whether and how well big Chinese cities prepare themselves in accommodating fast growth.

Urban Transition in West Bengal, India

Contemporary urbanization in India is in transition and this, along with the continuation of a ‘top heavy’ urban structure and gradual deindustrialization, is characterized by faster growth of informal employment, a declining trend of urban-ward migration of males, the slow down in the growth of cities and towns and the emergence of new urban centres. Given this immediate backdrop, this paper examines the contemporary processes and emerging forms of urban transition in West Bengal, with its longstanding history of ‘mono-centric’ urbanization. It reveals that urbanization in the state is no longer confined to a few pockets, as many new urban centres have emerged away from them and small towns are growing at relatively faster rates compared to the cities. But the underlying factors of this transition are not associated with the dispersal of economic activities and employment opportunities away from the metropolises. Furthermore, the study is sceptical about the significance of this emerging form of urbanization fuelled by the growth of small cities and towns which have a weak economic base, a crisis of urban governance and inadequate access to basic amenities.

Community Changes and Growth in Small Cities: Resident Perceptions of Growth in Brandon, Manitoba, Canada

AbstractWhile research on rural depopulation and urbanization to large cities has dominated the literature for decades, small city growth has been largely ignored. Yet, small cities are important to the regional systems in which they are located, including serving as centres to their rural surround. This paper is concerned about growth and change in small cities. Using Brandon, Manitoba as an example, citizen perceptions of a range of specific aspects of city growth are analyzed. The study is based on a household postal survey conducted in May and June 2010 in which 2,500 randomly selected households in Brandon, Manitoba received questionnaires. The results are based on the 518 useable, completed questionnaires that were returned. Differences in perceptions of the pace of change in a range of aspects of development were found based on income, age, educational attainment, employment status, and home ownership. No differences were found based on gender. The paper concludes with comments about how city governments need to be aware of citizen perceptions when pursuing and managing development. The paper also illustrated the importance of citizen perceptions in understanding the pace and direction of change in small cities.

Creativity, Culture and Urban Strategies: A Fallacy in Cultural Urban Strategies

Two fields of knowledge have been of special importance for the emergence of culture-led urban planning in Norwegian cities: one concerns the understanding of the potential of culture as an economic driving force in urban regeneration, while the other focuses on the emergence of the concept of the “creative class” and has drawn attention to the importance of competence and creativity in urban development. Despite clear connections between the two fields, it may appear that false connections have been made in regeneration strategies in a number of cities. Based on analyses of the culture-led urban strategy of Kristiansand, a small Norwegian city, these knowledge fields are discussed and it is claimed that there seems to be a fallacy in how they are treated in the culture-led urban strategy. The fallacy concerns the way that creativity is equated with culture and further how theories about the emergence of the creative class are equated with a culture industry approach to urban planning. Questions are raised about the potential of culture industry strategies and it is argued that the potential for growth in small cities may not be as great as the public debate and research conducted in large metropolises might suggest.

Establishment Growth in Small Cities and Towns

This article examines the effects of local industry agglomeration on establishment growth and employee earnings in Maine manufacturing and nonmanufacturing businesses. Empirical results reveal a positive relationship between an establishment’s 1996 to 1999 employment growth rate and the industry location quotient, measured at the two-digit standard industry classification (SIC) level in 129 municipalities and the three-digit SIC level in 16 counties. The results also indicate that industry agglomeration has a positive effect on the wages paid by an establishment relative to the U.S. industry average. In Maine municipalities, an increase in industry agglomeration is found to be a more powerful stimulant to establishment growth than a comparable increase in population size. On the other hand, an increase inmunicipality size has a relatively larger effect on establishment wages than a comparable increase in local industry agglomeration.

Do Suburbs Need Cities?

In this paper I examine the relationship between city and suburbangrowth over the last three decades for a sample of U.S. metropolitan areas. I develop a structuralempirical model relating city income growth to suburban growth in income, population, andhouse values. The model allows for bidirectional effects of cities on suburbs and suburbs oncities, as well as for unobserved factors affecting both city and suburbs. The simultaneous,latent‐variable model is identified using a combination of exclusion and covariance restrictions.Instrumental estimation results indicate that income growth in large cities enhances suburbangrowth; but income growth in small cities has little effect.

Retrospective of China's urbanization and regional development in the era of economic reforms

Great changes have taken place in China's urban and regional development since the economic reforms were launched at the end of 1978. Four phases are distinguished according to major policy changes. During the agricultural reforms and the initial stage of “open door policy” (Phase I), there was a rapid growth of small cities and towns and regional emphasis shifted from the interior to the coast. Phase II was characterized by urban reforms and the increasing involvement of foreign capital. Cities, especially large cities, grew fast and economic activities became concentrated along the coast. The economic rectification (Phase III) witnessed retarded growth and stagnant urban development. In the new surge of economic reforms (Phase IV), “opening-up to the outside world” became the first priority. The previously restricted opening-up of coastal regions has been replaced by a full-dimensional opening-up. The “torrent” of capturing foreign capital is moving towards China's remote hinterlands along its great rivers.

Population Movement in Zhejiang Province, China: The Impact of Government Policies

China's urbanization policies include strict control of permanent migration to large cities, but encourage the growth of small cities and towns. Concurrently, temporary migration is widely permitted as a way to stimulate commerce. Data for Zhejiang province indicate that permanent mobility is largely directed toward urban places, that towns gain more than cities and that rural areas experience migration losses. Permanent migrants to urban places are selective of the better educated. Temporary migration is also urban directed but greater in volume than permanent migration, and places considerable strain on urban infrastructure. Government policies are a key to understanding the migration streams and migrant characteristics. The considerable net movement into cities suggests that strict control of city growth is more difficult to achieve than envisaged by policymakers.

Varieties of population mobility in relation to development in China.

China in its efforts to effect economic modernization has come to recognize the need for labor mobility to promote the development of small towns to develop frontier agriculture and to provide a tertiary sector in the cities and towns. Of Chinas 1 billion people (3rd census 1982) 206 million or 20% of the population lived in 236 cities and 2664 towns. 50% of the urban dwellers were concentrated in the 3 metropolises of Shanghai Beijing and Tianjin. On the other hand 30% lived in the 2664 towns which China wishes to develop. In the past large numbers of people have migrated to the large cities because there they were assured the life-long security of employment in state-owned industries -- the "iron rice bowl." However Chinas present policy is to limit the size of big cities develop medium-sized cities (between 200000 and 500000 people) and encourage the growth of small cities. Chinas 7th Five-Year Plan (1986-1990) calls for a massive movement of the agricultural labor force not to the cities but to the towns. To control population movement China instituted the Household Registration System in accordance with which a household must obtain permission to move permanently beyond the local area. Migration from the populous East Coast areas to the underdeveloped Northwest and to the rural impoverished areas of Gansu Ningxia and Qinghai is encouraged. But controlled migration has become more difficult since the decentralization which has accompanied the new economic policies and the urban population has grown except for the 3 major cities. Moreover as a result of the new "economic responsibility system" introduced in 1979 many surplus agricultural workers have been absorbed into nonagricultural activities in villages and townships. By the end of 1985 67 million workers had moved from agriculture to industries and peasants may now be granted temporary residence permits in towns. The total number of towns increased to 7280 by 1985; however the new towns are concentrated in the more productive agricultural areas which can support them. In addition to these more or less permanent migrants large numbers of temporary migrants have come to the cities as representatives of local businesses as construction workers to operate urban outlets for agricultural and industrial products to provide various services including domestic service and as itinerant workers. 1986 statistics indicated that 3.21 million people were living as temporary residents of Chinas top 10 cities. The new economic policy has encouraged the resurgence of private plots and free markets and hence has stimulated the increased movement of peasants to rural markets and to free markets in cities.

The Problems of Small Cities and the Policy of Stimulating Small-City Growth

The policy of activating small-city growth through industrialization has focused largely on further development of such cities since it was first formulated in the 1960s. The author suggests that not all small cities possess the requisites for further growth and that it is a mistake to view them entirely as a transitional form of settlement. According to this view, small cities have a role to play as rural service centers. The problem is viewed not so much the industrialization and further growth of small cities, but an improvement of living levels designed to reduce the present gap between the standards of living in large and small urban centers. Further research on small-city problems is urged, proceeding from past emphasis on industrialization prospects to broader analysis of socio-demographic needs and the steps required to preserve small cities as an integral element of unified systems of settlement.