Urbanisation et multipolarité dans une économie spatiale

This paper explores the dynamics of agglomeration in a spatial economy. Consumers can choose to use a modern urban technology or a traditional one that can be performed anywhere. The modern technology offers higher returns but urban workers must bear commuting costs that reduce labor supply. Urbanization conditions highlight the role of productivity differentials between the two technologies, population growth, transport costs and the accumulation of capital. It is shown that the number of cities increases with the population when urbanization is feasible. The dynamic behavior of the model is described for both centralized management of all cities and competition among factory-towns to attract the labor force. Competition in that case improves the steady-state level of production. Urban endogenous growth is possible for some urban production functions. Depending on the structure of the urban system, different growth rates are obtained. Competition has then a positive growth rate effect.