Institute
Harvard University
Time & Place
Wed, 10 Jul 2013 18:30:00 NZST in Undercroft 101, James Hight Building, Ilam Campus, University of Canterbury
Abstract
- What if humanity stopped urbanising?
- What is the role of cities in promoting economic growth?
- What are the lessons for the Christchurch rebuild from cities around the world?
Cities are often seen as the source of social problems such as poverty and crime, while we retain romantic notions of idyllic rural life. The truth is very different. In this lecture, Professor Edward Glaeser, the world’s leading expert in the economics of cities, will discuss why cities are crucial to economic development, why proximity has become ever more valuable as the cost of connecting across long distances has fallen and why, contrary to popular myths, dense urban areas are the true friends of the environment, not suburbia.
- See youtube video here
Biography
About the speaker
Ed Glaeser is the Fred and Eleanor Glimp Professor of Economics at Harvard, where he also serves as Director of the Taubman Center for State and Local Government and the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston.
He studies the economics of cities, and has written scores of urban issues, including the growth of cities, segregation, crime, and housing markets. He has been particularly interested in the role that geographic proximity can play in creating knowledge and innovation. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1992 and has been at Harvard since then.
