Macroeconomic policy, 1988-2000

Abstract

The analysis of cities focuses mainly on the concentration of population and economic activities; however, in recent decades, the problem has become increasingly complex and it is not enough to analyze concentration alone, even if this process continues, but also the new form of urbanization that is taking shape, the effects of which have completely different characteristics from those that existed during the industrialization stage.
Urban agglomerations have commonly been seen as a development pole in which the labor force, infrastructure and control of the economic and political power of a region or country are concentrated. However, this tendency is being modified by the insertion of elements that present diverse functions such as political, business, art and cultural centers, among others (Hall, 1998).
These roles are becoming increasingly important, implying that the city is entering a new stage in which it will continue to maintain its hegemony as the pivot of the world economy. This change in functions is broadly linked to new forms of trade relations.
This change in functions is widely linked to the new forms of commercial, economic and production relations that began in the early 1970s and are still in the process of adaptation for some regions and countries. All this has been termed "globalization".