2024 Faculty Courses School of Environment and Society Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Graduate major in Civil Engineering
Urban Economic Analysis
- Academic unit or major
- Graduate major in Civil Engineering
- Instructor(s)
- Yuki Takayama
- Class Format
- Lecture (Face-to-face)
- Media-enhanced courses
- -
- Day of week/Period
(Classrooms) - 7-8 Mon / 7-8 Thu
- Class
- -
- Course Code
- CVE.D406
- Number of credits
- 200
- Course offered
- 2024
- Offered quarter
- 4Q
- Syllabus updated
- Mar 14, 2025
- Language
- English
Syllabus
Course overview and goals
To find rational urban policies, it is necessary to understand the mechanisms behind urban problems and predict the effectiveness of policy measures. Urban economics is a field of economics that serves as the foundation for these considerations and possesses crucial features, even from a civil engineering perspective, as it allows for the proper evaluation of the benefits of public policies. In this lecture, we will cover not only the fundamental theories required for urban economic analysis but also methods for applying them to policy evaluation.
Course description and aims
At the end of this course, students will be able to:
1. explain the mechanisms of spatial agglomeration of economic activities;
2. explain the characteristics of the spatial distribution of economic activities within a city and the mechanisms giving rise to them;
3. explain the regularities observed in the distribution of city sizes and the mechanisms leading to them;
4. explain methods for evaluating the effects of various urban and transportation policies.
Keywords
urban economics, equilibrium, policy analysis
Competencies
- Specialist skills
- Intercultural skills
- Communication skills
- Critical thinking skills
- Practical and/or problem-solving skills
Class flow
While teaching theoretical foundations of urban economics, exercises will also be conducted.
Course schedule/Objectives
| Course schedule | Objectives | |
|---|---|---|
| Class 1 | Introduction of urban economics | aims & scopes of this course |
| Class 2 | Location theory | basic concepts of location theory |
| Class 3 | Land use model (closed city) | monocentric model (closed city) |
| Class 4 | Land use model (small open city) | monocentric model (small open city); bid-rent approach and equilibrium analysis |
| Class 5 | Economic analysis of traffic congestion: Negative externalities | user equilibrium assignment; Braess’s paradox |
| Class 6 | Economic analysis of traffic congestion: Congestion pricing | congestion pricing; internalizing externalities |
| Class 7 | Evolutionary game theory | population game |
| Class 8 | Evolutionary dynamics | evolutionary dynamics; revision protocol |
| Class 9 | Stability of an equilibrium | stability; dynamical system |
| Class 10 | Extension of land use model | agglomeration economies and diseconomies |
| Class 11 | System of cities: equilibrium and optimum | system-of-cities model; city size |
| Class 12 | New economic geography | new economic geography model; bifurcation |
| Class 13 | Computable general equilibrium model | SCGE (spatial computable general equilibrium) model |
| Class 14 | Quantitative spatial economics | quantitative spatial model; quantitative urban model |
| Class 15 | Summary | urban economics and policy evaluation |
Study advice (preparation and review)
To facilitate effective learning, students are encouraged to spend approximately 100 minutes preparing for each class and an additional 100 minutes reviewing class content afterward, including assignments. Please utilize the course materials for this purpose.
Textbook(s)
None required.
Reference books, course materials, etc.
Fujita, M. (1989). Urban Economic Theory: Land Use and City Size. Cambridge University Press.
Fujita, M., & Thisse, J.-F. (2013). Economics of Agglomeration: Cities, Industrial Location, and Globalization. Cambridge University Press.
Fujita, M., Krugman, P. R., & Venables, A. J. (1999). The Spatial Economy: Cities, Regions and International Trade. MIT Press.
Sheffi, Y. (1985). Urban Transportation Networks: Equilibrium Analysis with Mathematical Programming Methods. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
Sandholm, W. H. (2010). Population Games and Evolutionary Dynamics. MIT Press.
Evaluation methods and criteria
exercises (20%), reports (80%)
Related courses
- CVE.D201 ： Infrastructure Planning
- CVE.D301 ： Traffic and Transportation Systems
- CVE.D311 ： Public Economics
- CVE.D405 ： Transportation Science and Simulation
Prerequisites
Students must have successfully completed CVE.D201, CVE.D301, and CVE.D311 or have equivalent knowledge.