A LONG-STANDING BELIEF in development studies holds that, on the whole, living conditions in developing countries are superior for residents of large cities than for persons living in smaller cities, towns, and villages. The concept of big cities as " islands of privilege " (Harrison 1982: 145) is fundamental to otherwise discrepant theories of modernization, dependency, world systems of cities...

Two central issues of climate change have become increasingly evident: Climate change will significantly affect cities; and rapid global urbanization will increase dramatically the number of individuals, amount of critical infrastructure, and means of economic production that are exposed and vulnerable to dynamic climate risks. Simultaneously, cities in many settings have begun to emerge as ear...

The author probes for differences among central cities, suburbs, and rural communities in the perceived importance of various motivations for development decisions, drawing on a mail survey of city managers/administrators in California. Central-city respondents are more inclined to “look outward” in making land-use decisions, attributing greater importance to certain regional economic and devel...

This study explores the extent to which richer central cities are associated with slower suburban sprawl. The authors use a unique approach to categorizing municipalities in urbanized areas based on their relative densities. Richness is measured in terms of the central city’s relative share of high-income households. The central finding (both for the decade from 1990 to 2000 and for 2000 to 200...