Edge Cities and the Viability of Metropolitan Economies: Contributions to Flexibility and External Linkages by New Urban Service Environments

Economists have had little to say concerning the impact of Edge Cities in metropolitan complexes, much less about how they relate to the economy in general. The present paper is aimed at those concerns. It begins with a general overview of the Edge City concept as put forward by Joel Garreau. Following that it discusses metropolitan change in a pre-Edge City format. It then considers Edge Cities in the context of growth poles and discusses their role in providing economic linkages that facilitate change. The intent is to provide a better understanding of the impact of Edge Cities upon host metropolitan areas and the economy at large. Copyright 2001 The American Journal of Economics and Sociology.