Abstract
Abstract. Innovations and innovators who bring new products to market are heralded as change agents and are the heroes of modern business. However, a subtle dimension in social science research has emerged which promises a similar relationship with human interaction and economic development: urban living and the rise of megacities. For a time, new innovations in telecommunication and transportation suggested the demise of cities that would make rural living preferable to life in urban areas. However, rather than these developments leading to the demise of cities, urban areas are now considered as the hub of economic growth and innovation, which is attributed to the international proliferation of urban living. Cities are increasingly seen as reducing the costs of communication, create access to culture, knowledge, and medicine and are recognized as centers of innovation and productivity. It is against this backdrop that Karima Kourtit, Peter Nijkamp, and Roger Stough have edited the volume The Rise of the City: Spatial Dynamics in the Urban Century, which synthesizes leading topics in urban economics..
Keywords. Political economy, Institutions, Democracy, Elections.
JEL. F50, D72.
