L’economia urbana e la declinazione del concetto di città: recenti avanzamenti teorici e sfide future

<em>Urban Economics and the identification of the concept of city: recent theoretical achievements and future challenges</em> (by Roberta Capello) - ABSTRACT: The paper addresses the challenge raised by the paper written by Cusinato, 2007. Within a systemic framework, it describes the ways in which the city has been interpreted in urban economics: as an agglomeration, a place with an endogenous capacity to allocate resources efficiently, a place of interaction and synergy, an economic system analysed with traditional macroeconomic tools. The paper identifies the theoretical frameworks of urban economics in which space exists in order to enlarge and strengthen the concept of city: additional effort is required on the one hand of agglomeration theories in applying the concept of the city as a milieu; and on the other of competitiveness theories, into which the concept of territory must be inserted, this being a challenge for urban economists.