2019 Undergraduate Spring Panel: Urbanization and the Growth of Mega-Cities

The rise of “mega-cities” present both unprecedented opportunities and unprecedented challenges. Much work on urbanization has focused on the so-called “triumph of the city” — the vastly improved opportunities that cities can offer new residents. But as cities get larger and larger, the costs of pollution, crime, and overworked infrastructure increase substantially. This panel looked to address both the evolution and organization of cities, the positive and negative externalities that urbanization brings, and the policy implications that result from these characteristics of urbanization.

The Becker Friedman Institute (BFI) and the Kenneth C. Griffin Department of Economics at the University of Chicago welcomed Gilles Duranton, Dean’s Chair in Real Estate Professor, University of Pennsylvania, Edward Glaeser, Fred and Eleanor Glimp Professor of Economics, Harvard University, and Esteban Rossi-Hansberg, Theodore A. Wells ’29 Professor of Economics and International Affairs, Princeton University for a discussion on the urbanization and growth of “mega-cities.”

The Undergraduate Spring Panel is an annual event organized by the College’s top economics students, who selected the speakers and will moderate the conversation. This event is open to the full campus community.