Between Accumulation and Concentration of Capital

Toward a Framework for Comparing Long-Term Trajectories of Urban Systems

Bibliographic Data

ID11670240
AuthorsRobert C Kloosterman (0000-0002-9426-1759, Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, corresponding author), Bart Lambregts (University of Amsterdam)
Year2007
Volume28
Issue1
Pages54-73
Publication date2007-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueUrban Geography (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0272-3638 • E-ISSN: 1938-2847
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.2747/0272-3638.28.1.54
OpenAlexW2001866375
LanguageEN
Citations received15
References cited29

In this article, we first seek to develop a more general framework to understand differences in long-term trajectories of urban systems. We use a model that has two dimensions: the level of accumulation of capital and the level of concentration of capital. We then use the model, very much in a heuristic way, to see what insights can be gained when applied to the concrete cases of the urban systems of London and the Dutch Randstad. As the data, especially for the pre-industrial and the industrial era, are still very scarce, this mapping of the long-term trajectories is still highly conjectural. What emerges quite clearly from this novel way of looking at urban development trajectories, though, is the divergence between the two global city regions. This divergence can be explained by the differences in the (pre-industrial) points of departure between London and the Randstad, but also by the difference of insertion in the global economy. A more detailed analysis of the Randstad in the post-industrial era shows that changes in the level of concentration of capital are clearly scale-sensitive; within the Randstad a clear tendency toward deconcentration while relative to the country as a whole the Randstad has maintained its position. Keywords: Comparative researchglobal city regionpath dependencyagglomeration economiespolycentricpost-industrial transitionRandstadLondon

Capital (architecture · Divergence (linguistics · Economic geography · Economics · Economy · Geography · Heuristic · Position (finance · Scale (ratio · Term (time · Computer Science · Local Government Finance and Decentralization · Regional Economics and Spatial Analysis · Spatial and Panel Data Analysis

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