How Cities Make People Richer Essay

Superior Essays
Mengdi
Ec330
6.4.2016
How Cities Make People Richer
Glaesar introduces his book by explaining that cities are made of flesh, rather than concrete. The city has triumphed in economic and technological ways through the provision of opportunities that lead to a further increase in opportunities. It is a foundation that Glaesar bases his arguments, especially in the aspect of how cities have made people richer by the minute. Being an elaborate and renowned economist, Glaesar centers his arguments on the fact that human contact, especially in the city, enables the populace to grow in terms of trust and cooperation. (p 35). He supports this by explaining that this proximity is crucial in the generation and distribution of wealth, as well as in creation
…show more content…
He states, “Labor productivity and wages were significantly higher in those places where density was easier to develop” (p 142). He goes on to state the opposite of this constitutes expensive living. In his argument, he explains that cities attract ambitious and learned people. Taking advantage of this, the denser the number of learned people, the higher the chances of sharing knowledge, forming networks of novelty that allow for the upsurge of innovations, and by association, the rise in productivity. This leads to wealth generation and maximization in growth, creating more opportunities for other people to take over. This process will maximize the wealth of the “opportunity-maker” through the jobs made and distributed to other people seeking opportunities. With increased urban migration, cities have grown denser by the year, as seen in Manhattan. Glaesar notes that a city such as this is 74% wealthier than any other place. Simple housing may seem tiresome, but Glaesar acknowledges that in an area such as Houston, families are 58% wealthier (p 187). Therefore, he recommends to urban planners that the denser the city, the more affordable housing becomes, and the wealthier people grow as they get to retain (p

Related Documents

  • Great Essays

    People are constantly on the move past and present, searching for something promising, more opportunities and a purpose. All of these fall into the category of migration, which is not a new phenomenon to us humans because throughout history, up until now, people were and are always moving from place to place which results in the changes in the population statistics. Some find migration as an opportunity to have a successful life, meanwhile for others, it is a challenging process. There were two eras in the American History that highlight this. They are the Gilded Age and the Roaring Twenties.…

    • 1361 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Urbanism Dbq

    • 340 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Urbanism in the United States was impossible to avoid for a variety of reasons. One of those reasons was the new opportunities the city had to offer many individuals because of the growing development of the city. Urbanism for instance, brought many new opportunities from employment, lifestyle, and changes to the city. A new experience many people had never seen before or had access to. Urbanism aside from all the different opportunities it brought to the city with the new developments created a rapid expansion in population with the growth of home developments, rural places, and new job developments.…

    • 340 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The late 1800’s and early 1900’s was a time period that can be identified as the Gilded Age era in America. The political and socio-economic climates were rapidly changing, partly in fallout from industrialization and repercussions of rapid urbanization. The industrial revolution transformed what it meant to work, and shaped the once agrarian country into a more consumer driven, capitalistic marketplace. However, during this time period of drastic change in America, different economic classes like farmers, new immigrants and the emerging middle class began to play vastly different roles with regards to work, and at the same time began to obtain new identities in the workplace.…

    • 1265 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    1520 Sedgwick Case Summary

    • 1070 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The legal process of gentrification is potentially one of the more easily argued cases, especially in a country that prides itself on its free market. Using 1520 Sedgwick as an example as well I will compare how the ideals of a free market economy would effect it with the realities of the situation. First of all, if the US was a true free market economy 1520 Sedgwick would never have been enrolled in the Mitchell-Lama program because such a system wouldn’t exist unless the government owned the property, which also would be contrary to a free market system. Following the fact that these programs do exist and the government does play a role in the economy, including real estate, we have to conclude that the government has to assume at least some sense of responsibility for the citizens enrolled in the Mitchell-Lama program. However, this does not just include the residents of 1520 Sedgwick, but the owners as well, for the government entered into an agreement with them as well.…

    • 1070 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Large scale industry boomed in the late 19th century as a result of the growing urbanization and immigration of the expanding metropolises of America. Historians often refer to this period of time as the “Gilded Age” from a Mark Twain novel of the same name with details of a time with growing societal problems with a light golden surface. While the industry provided many jobs for the American workforce, the employers handed these jobs to immigrants and other minority groups for extensive work hours and little pay in relation. The South had their cotton and textile mills that former slaves and poor whites would work whereas European immigrants would flock to the North to work in factories. These mills and factories were often led by a select…

    • 434 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    However, we clearly see increasing signs that the benefits of urban economies are not disbursed evenly among city residents. Income inequalities continue to increase in cities with a large population, but these discrepancies only tell part of the story.” The authors go on to identify how poverty is ongoing regardless of economic increases and that “economic mobility appears blocked for many urban residents.” They state that “low-income individuals are being left out and overlooked with jobs and schools, thereby, limiting their opportunities for success and “leaving them stuck in poverty for years or even for generations.”…

    • 1442 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Great Essays

    New developments and businesses, large corporations, and private institutions are what gentrifying neighborhoods attract. For these reasons, housing demand goes up in the area. This denotes that affordable housing would be hard to achieve since property value rises. Richard Florida explains in his article, “This Is What Happens After A Neighborhood Gets Gentrified,” how local residents “may feel pressured to move to more affordable locations,” (Florida 9). Usually, these businesses will bring in some conveniences such as beautified environment, more security, and money to the community, but they will also drive away the neighborhood’s local inhabitants.…

    • 1065 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In the article he mentioned, “ after gentrification take hold..ignoring the fact that poverty has usually only been bounced elsewhere.” This indicates that gentrification is also a benefactor that can cause more poverty in cities. Due to this; housing becomes more expensive and low income families will not be able to afford then forced to move elsewhere where poverty is even worse. Another idea madden brought up was, “the least useful way to criticize gentrification is obsess about an area's character, coolness, or even worse, ‘grit’.” People tend to only want to acknowledge the nice things about old neighborhoods being changed into fancy, stylish and, middle-class suitable living lifestyles.…

    • 720 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Gentrification is usually blamed for the displacement of lower class residents occurs. As Neil Smith states in his book The New Urban Frontier, “infects working class communities, displaces poor households, and converts whole neighborhoods into bourgeois enclaves.” Neil Smith was a geographer who had similar perspectives to Karl Marx. He believes with the addition of new and wealthy classes, the old classes will be forced out to create more neighborhood of the wealthy classes. Lower-income residents become more isolated from their neighborhood.…

    • 754 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    There are two cities who have had a profound impact in my life. Those cities are San Bernardino and Angelus Oaks. Both cities are located in the Inland Empire of Southern California. Both of these cities contribute different feelings and present a separate kind of home to me. When the two cities are compared they seem like completely different places, however they do share some similarities.…

    • 1045 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “The influence of the city-based cultures and the steady spread and increase of urban populations around the world have been the central facts of human history” (13). Since the beginning of time, cities have been influencing people and the people have been influencing the city in which they live in. As said in the reading, urban life is defined by the community, the government and the economy. The history of cities is complex and it changed in many ways throughout time, starting with the first city of Uruk to present day. That is what these articles focus on, the history of cities from the first city to the urbanization of today’s cities.…

    • 785 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Urban Development Essay

    • 980 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Resources tie into this because many urban centres have education systems, medical centres, supermarkets and a vast range of other things including jobs. Therefore, people are drawn to urban areas for a better quality of life. Example: Population growth in terms of how many people live in the cities has been increasing since 1800s when it was approximately around 3% of the global population and now it is roughly 50%, displaying a 47% increase (Getis, Getis, Bjellad, and Fellmann, 2011) • Concluding comment: From this it is evident that many people are moving from Rural to Urban locations as a result of more resources and opportunities the urban areas can offer in comparison to rural areas. This movement is facilitating urban development due to the fact that cities must accommodate the population whom are moving to the cities and as a result urban development and city growth occurs.…

    • 980 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Cities provide economies of scale and agglomeration and become the system through which investments are made and therefore allow development and better correspondence of partnership between urban and rural life. In response to good investments the cities are able to impose taxes to promote urban development. As a result of good management of the expenditure and economic investments the satisfaction of life has been raised. People have more and better access to several types of new technologies in place and are also able to get access to markets. (Settlements,…

    • 1855 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Urban Community and Lifestyle Urban communities are well developed areas where there is a large density of people living. Often an urban area is the region around a city and primarily consists of commercial buildings, houses, motorways, bridges, and railroads. According to the United States Census Bureau in 2010 there was 249,253,271 people living in urban areas, which is eighty-one percent of the U.S. population (2010 Census Urban and Rural Classification and Urban Area Criteria, n.d.). To gain a better understanding of urban living, I have interviewed three individuals who are currently living in metropolitan communities. With their perception, I concluded that there are three similar themes: crime, poverty, and homelessness.…

    • 1392 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    using examples of famous artists. If students live in a rural area they do not have as many resources. Cities offer the best resources for schools, and therefore they are great places to live. Not only are there educational benefits, one can also find more things to buy in the city. While anyone with internet access can shop, there is nothing like trying things on in a beautiful store in a city.…

    • 1387 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays

Related Topics