The Future of Urban Research: Non-Market Interactions

Throughout social science, non-market interactions are increasingly being recognized as central. The endogenous growth literature argues that the flow of ideas between innovators is critical for progress. The social capital literature argues that relationships between ordinary citizens determine the quality of government. The literature on poverty is increasingly emphasizing neighborhood effects and that the intellectual isolation of the ghettos leads to the worst problems of the inner city. pointing to the importance of non-market interactions. These three literatures are all There are two connections between these critical, non-market interactions and urban economics. First, the demand for cities is to a large extent driven by these sorts of nonmarket interactions. The appeal of locating in Wall Street or Silicon Valley lies, in part, in their roles as centers of information flows. The New Urbanism, which lay behind the planning of Celebration, argues that density can be critical in creating a highly desirable