Lahore University of Management Sciences

Econ 4416– Advance Urban Economics

Fall 2022-2023

Instructor Dr. Syed Hasan

Room No. First Floor Econ Department
Office Hours 10-11 am MW
Email Syed.hasan@lums.edu.pk
Telephone 8463
Secretary/TA
TA Office Hours
Course URL (if any)

Course Teaching Methodology (Please mention following details in plain text)

 Teaching Methodology: All lectures shall be delivered in person in classroom.

Course Basics
Credit Hours 4
Lecture(s) Nbr of Lec(s) Per Week 2 Duration 110 minutes
Recitation/Lab (per week) Nbr of Lec(s) Per Week Duration
Tutorial (per week) Nbr of Lec(s) Per Week Duration

Course Distribution
Core
Elective Yes
Open for Student Category Juniors and Seniors
Close for Student Category

COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course on urban economics is divided in three parts. The first part aims at understanding the theoretical foundation and addresses
three broad sets of questions. The first set of questions focuses on the development of urban areas such as why do some locations
grow more rapidly and how can local governments encourage such growth? The second set of questions addresses policy and patterns
of development within metropolitan areas such as why do certain parts of metropolitan areas grow more rapidly than others? The third
set of questions concerns the spatial dimensions of urban problems. In this, we will focus on urban issues such as mobility, housing, and
sprawl. This part includes the spatial aspects of local government, that is studying topics such as transit oriented development, city
public finance systems etc.
The second part of the course deals with issues specific for Pakistani cities in terms of the following broad areas:
 GDP contribution of cities in Pakistan and their temporal trend
 Urban governance, infrastructure and their interplay with economic growth.
 Land use management and regulations in cities
 Planning and running of within-city infrastructure services — mainly the transport networks
 Revenue sources of city government to support local economic development

ACADEMIC MISCONDUCT
Academic integrity is essential to maintaining an environment that fosters excellence in teaching, research, and other educational and
scholarly activities. The term “academic misconduct” includes all forms of student academic misconduct wherever committed; illustrated
by, but not limited to, cases of plagiarism and dishonest practices in connection with examinations. Instructors shall report all instances of
alleged academic misconduct to the disciplinary committee. Ignorance of the University’s code of student conduct is never considered an
“excuse” for academic misconduct; please review the Values & Ethics document available on the LUMS Portal, and the discussion related to
disciplinary procedures in the student handbook.
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COURSE PREREQUISITE(S)

 Econ 211: Intermediate Microeconomics




COURSE OBJECTIVES
Understand economic theories related to urban issues.
 Review and analyze urban economic literature
 Familiarize with urban issues of Pakistan
 Develop policy perspective on issues related to cities of Pakistan

Learning Outcomes
Be able to analyze and evaluate urban models
 Apply the urban models to Pakistani cities
 Suggest economic solutions to urban problems.


Grading Breakup and Policy

Quiz(s) (n-1): 20%

Readings Presentation and Response Papers: (4+6) 10%
Attendance: 5%
Modular Exams 1 and 2: 20% each
Class project: (report document and presentation: 18+7) =25%

Examination Detail

Yes/No: Yes
Combine Separate:
Midterm
Duration:
Exam
Preferred Date:
Exam Specifications:

Yes/No: No
Combine Separate:
Final Exam
Duration:
Exam Specifications:

     
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COURSE OVERVIEW
Week/
Recommended Objectives/
Lecture/ Topics
Readings Application
Module
Agglomeration Theory and Empirics       Duranton, Gilles and Diego Puga. Understand theory and empirical
2004. Micro-foundations of urban approaches on the topic.
agglomeration economies. In
Vernon Henderson and Jacques-
François Thisse (eds.) Handbook of
Regional and Urban Economics,
volume 4. Amsterdam: North-
Holland, 2063–2117.

Lin, “The Puzzling Persistence of

Place,” Business Review (2015)
Rossi-Hansberg, “Geography of
 1
Growth and Development,”
prepared for the Oxford
Encyclopedia of Economics and
Finance (2018)

Ellison, Glenn, Edward L. Glaeser,

and William R. Kerr. 2010. What
causes industry agglomeration?
Evidence from co-agglomeration
patterns. American Economic
Review
100(3):1195–1213.
Dispersion Theory and Empirics Duranton, Gilles, and Diego Puga.
      2015. Urban land use (section 2-5).
In Gilles Duranton, J. Vernon
Henderson, and William C. Strange
(eds.) Handbook of Regional and
Urban Economics, volume 5.
Amsterdam: North-Holland.
 2
Combes, Pierre-Philippe, Gilles
Duranton, and Laurent Gobillon.
2017. The costs of agglomeration:
Housing and land prices in French
cities. Processed, University of
Pennsylvania.
 3 Housing and Transport Planning Ahead for Better Understand theory and empirical
Neighborhoods: Long Run Evidence approaches on the topic.
from Tanzania
Sultana, S. (2002). Job/housing
imbalance and commuting time in
the Atlanta metropolitan area:
exploration of causes of longer
commuting time. Urban Geography,
23(8), 728-749.
Fingleton, B., Fuerst, F., & Szumilo,
N. (2019). Housing affordability: Is
new local supply the key?.
Environment and Planning A:
Economy and Space, 51(1), 25-50.
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Land use regulation Glaeser, Edward L., Joseph Gyourko, Understand theory and empirical
and Raven Saks. 2005. Why is approaches on the topic.
Manhattan so expensive? Learn best practices on the topic.
Regulation and the rise in housing
 4
prices. Journal of Law and
Economics 48(2):331–369.

Use of Big Data Naik, N., Kominers, S. D., Raskar, R.,

Glaeser, E. L., & Hidalgo, C. A.
(2017). Computer vision uncovers
predictors of physical urban change.
Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences, 114(29), 7571-
 5
7576.

Beyer, R. C., Chhabra, E., Galdo, V.,

& Rama, M. (2018). Measuring
districts' monthly economic activity
from outer space. The World Bank.
System of Cities, New Economic Geography Krugman, “Increasing Returns and
 6 Economic Geography,” Journal of
Political Economy (1991)
 7 Pakistan Related Papers Arif, G. M., and Shahnaz Hamid.
"Urbanization, city growth and
quality of life in Pakistan." European
Journal of Social Sciences 10, no. 2
(2009): 196-215.
Learn about innovative data sources
that can be used for research
Understand local context of urban
issues
Use the theoretical and empirical
knowledge to study in detail one
assigned topic for the Policy Paper

Burki, Abid A., and Mushtaq A.

Khan. "Spatial inequality and
geographic concentration of
manufacturing industries in
Pakistan." The Pakistan
Development Review 49, no. 4
(2010).

Dowall, David E., and Peter D. Ellis.

"Urban land and housing markets in
the Punjab, Pakistan." Urban Studies
46, no. 11 (2009): 2277-2300.

Ellis, Peters, and Roberts, Mark.

Leveraging urbanization in South
Asia: Managing spatial
transformation for prosperity and
livability. The World Bank, 2016.

Haque, Nadeem Ul. Pakistan’s

Urbanization: Achieving progress,
growth, and development through
urban renewal. Pakistan: Wilson
Center, 2014

Haque, Nadeem Ul. "Flawed Urban

 Lahore University of Management Sciences
Development Policies in Pakistan."
Islamabad: Pakistan Institute of
Development Economics (2015).

Rana, Irfan Ahmad, and Saad Saleem

Bhatti. "Lahore, Pakistan–
Urbanization challenges and
opportunities." Cities 72 (2018): 348-
355.

World Bank. Transforming Karachi

into a Livable and Competitive
Megacity. World Bank: 2018a.
Yuen, B., & Choi, S. (2012). Making
spatial change in Pakistan cities
growth enhancing.

Textbook(s)/Supplementary Readings
Textbooks: Philip McCann, Modern Urban and Regional Economics, Second Edition

Arnott, R. J., & McMillen, D. P. (Eds.). (2008). A Companion to Urban economics. John Wiley & Sons.

The articles to be used shall be uploaded on LMS.

Schedule:
Quiz 1: Sep 19
Quiz 2: Oct 10
Quiz 3: Nov 16
Exam 1: Oct 17
Exam 2: Nov 21
Project Presentations: 28-30 Nov and 5-7 Dec
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1. Urban Governance Issues
2. Urban land use
3. Municipal services
4. Urban Environment
5. Urban revenue resources
6. Cities contribution to economy
7. Urban entrepreneurship
8. Urban Transport / Mass transit/ Ride Sharing
9. Affordable housing in cities
10. Challenges due to pandemic
11. Inclusive growth challenges
12. Crime / Security -Economic Impact
13. Gender based issues
14. Urban traffic and congestion
15. Urban Flooding
16. Transit Oriented Development
17. Land Value Capture
18. Parking in Cities
19. Incidence of Poverty in Cities
20. Work from Home/ Energy Consumption in Cities
21. Green Financing Ideas for cities
22. Labor Force Activities- Gender