Professor: Keren Mertens Horn Office: Wheatley 5-78B Office Hours: TR 2:30-4:00 pm ECONOMICS OF THE METROPOLITAN AREA 212G, SPRING 2013

INTRODUCTIONS  About Me:  How did I end up in Boston?

INTRODUCTIONS  About Me:  How did I end up in Boston?  Two worker family – both need jobs!  How did I choose where to live in Boston?  Commute to work?  Access to public transportation?  Housing I can afford?  Safety?

INTRODUCTIONS  About Me:  How did I end up in Boston?  Two worker family – both need jobs!  How did I choose where to live in Boston?  Commute to work?  Access to public transportation?  Housing I can afford?  Safety?  About You:  Please me a picture of yourself  Something you like or dislike about cities?

 Office: Wheatley 5-78B  Office Hours: 2:30-4:00  Prerequisites: ENGL 102, ECON 101, minimum of 30 credits  Can only take one intermediate seminar and this one can count towards the economics major  Textbook: O’Flaherty  Additional readings will be posted on Wiki one week before they are due  Class requirements:  Lead class discussion 2 times  Post response to reading 10 times  Write 2 critical reading responses  Write 1 letter to city council  Final Project – In class debate and write up of case study REVIEW OF SYLLABUS

 What is a city and why do they exist?  Getting around in a city (transportation, congestion, mass transit)  Land and regulating its use  Urban public services (and education)  Housing (focus on affordable housing) and Racial segregation  Crime and Policing  Economic Development COURSE OVERVIEW

WHAT IS A CITY?  O’Flaherty’s definition:  “Places where a lot of human activity and interaction regularly occurs in a small space”  More concrete definitions:  The City as a Municipality or Local Authority Area (political boundary):  The term city might be the historical core municipality (local authority area), such as the city of Chicago or any other municipality. The term city is principally used in the United States to denote a municipality.  The City as a Metropolitan Area (economic boundary):  The term city is also sometimes used to describe an entire labor market, which includes the historical core municipality, continuously developed suburbs and exurbs, which are not connected by continuous development to the urban area.

BOSTON CITY DEFINITIONS

 Currently more than half the world’s population lives in urban areas.  Not always the case – even in 1800 only 3% of world’s population lived in urban areas.  Today United Nations forecasts that the world’s urban population of over 3 billion will rise to nearly 5 billion by 2030, when 3 out of 5 people will live in cities. WHY DO CITIES EXIST?

 Please take 10 minutes and write a few sentences on whether you think we still need cities. DO WE STILL NEED CITIES?