Which Cities have been Disconnected? Changes in Interurban Networks and Development Dynamics in the U.S.

Keywords: Inequality, interurban networks, network positions, urban connectivity, U.S. urban system
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Friday
Session Start / End Time: 2/25/2022 09:40 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/25/2022 11:00 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 16

Abstract

Globalization and technological change have had profound impacts on urban systems worldwide, generating winners and losers and contributing to rising intra- and interurban inequality. This is particularly visible in the United States, where scholarly studies and media reports suggest that along with these processes firms and governments have “left behind” smaller, isolated city-regions, while concentrating high-income jobs and resources in the most dynamic urban areas. Empirical evidence reveals strong concentration process of economic activity in these city-regions, whereas systematic investigations about changes throughout the urban system and about places that have become disconnected from or abandoned by large cities are limited. Using the unique LexisNexis Corporate Affiliations database, we construct a network of subsidiary linkages that covers the entire U.S. urban system and analyze changes in this network through investment and disinvestment decisions between 1993 and 2017. Using social network techniques, we i) characterize how the geography of firms’ linkages within the U.S. urban system and around the globe has changed over time and ii) identify how these changes are related to employment, income and demographic patterns. We identify a complex typology of the changing role of city-regions within the urban system, beyond simply winners and losers.