ESSAY ASSIGNMENT #1: URBAN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
For your first essay assignment, you will need to view all the following six videos on YouTube:
1. “Michael Cohen – Urban Economy in the New Millennium”
2. “Cities as Engines of Economic Growth (World Bank Institute)”
3. “Infrastructure and Urban Development (World Economic Forum)”
4. “Creating Sustainable Cities”
5. “Innovation Districts as a Strategy for Urban Economic Development”
6. “Connected Urban Development”
7. “Engines of Prosperity: Urban Success Stories of Economic Development”
The title of your essay assignment is “The Challenges and Opportunities Provided by Urban Economic Development in the 21st Century.”
Please prepare a 5-page essay in which you address the following questions:
• Why is the world continuing to become more urbanized and why are cities still the dominant form of human settlement in the 21st Century?
• In what ways are cities the “engines” that drive national and global economic growth?
• What are some of the downsides or “negative externalities” associated with cities?
• In what ways might we improve the quality of life in cities? (Consider some of the following issues: infrastructure, health & human services, public education, housing, and jobs)
• What are the biggest threats to economic and social stability in cities? (Consider some of the following: climate change, sea level rise/urban flooding, homelessness, inequality, and un/underemployment)?
• What options exist for promoting sustainable solutions for cities in the remainder of the 21st Century?
You may wish to make reference to relevant observations we made and issues we discussed during last week’s field trip to Downtown Providence.