The centrality of metropolitan agglomerations in the globalized economy: economic foundations and political perspectives

Abstract

Despite the numerous predict ions about the imminent decline in the importance of large cities, they continue to be key hubs of economic development. This articles aims to discuss the economic forces that keep the metropolis at the center of globalization, as well as prospects and limits for political action at the local level. In the first part, the paper discusses the economic foundations of spatial agglomeration. The second part looks into how these economic forces, mediated by local public action, structure intra-urban space. In the third and last part, the paper examines the possibilities open to local public action, underscoring that, in order to be effective, it has to be seen as simultaneously trans-scalar and multi-dimensional.