Urbanization without growth in historical perspective

Jedwab, Rémi; Vollrath, Dietrich

doi:10.1016/j.eeh.2015.09.002

Cited by 151 publications

(83 citation statements)

References 95 publications

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“…Winter temperature, a key determinant of insect herbivore survival (Bale et al, ), has increased by 0.9°C, more than other seasons (USGCRP, ). Some urban areas within the region, such as in the Boston metropolitan area, have expanded rapidly (Jedwab & Vollrath, ), whereas other parts of the region remain largely rural. Here, we examine trends in herbivore damage over this time span across four plant species with varied life histories and broad geographical distributions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Herbarium specimens reveal increasing herbivory over the past century

et al. 2018

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Predicting how ecological interactions will respond to global change is a major challenge. Plants and their associated insect herbivores compose much of macroscopic diversity, yet how their interactions have been altered by recent environmental change remains underexplored. To address this gap, we quantified herbivory on herbarium specimens of four plant species with records extending back 112 years. Our study focused on the northeastern US, where temperatures have increased rapidly over the last few decades. This region also represents a range of urban development, a form of global change that has shown variable effects on herbivores in the past studies. Herbarium specimens collected in the early 2000s were 23% more likely to be damaged by herbivores than those collected in the early 1900s. Herbivory was greater following warmer winters and at low latitudes, suggesting that climate warming may drive increasing insect damage over time. In contrast, human population densities were negatively associated with herbivore damage. To explore whether changes in insect occurrence or abundance might explain shifts in herbivory, we used insect observational records to build climate occupancy models for lepidopteran herbivores (butterflies and moths) of our focal plant species. These models show that higher winter temperatures were associated with higher probability of insect herbivore presence, while urbanization was associated with reduced probability of herbivore presence, supporting a link between insect herbivore occurrence and herbivory mediated through environment. Synthesis. Using a temporal record of plant herbivory that spans over a century, we show that both temperature and urbanization influence insect damage to plants, but in very different ways. Our results indicate that damage to plants by insect herbivores will likely continue to increase through time in the northeastern US as global temperatures rise, but that urbanization may disrupt local effects of winter warming on herbivory by excluding certain herbivores. These changes may scale to shape ecosystem processes that are driven by herbivory, including plant productivity.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Herbarium specimens reveal increasing herbivory over the past century

et al. 2018

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“…See for example Jedwab and Vollrath () for a survey of the literature on the drivers of the urbanization process over time. The survey starts by documenting, by means of historical data at both country and city level over 1500–2010, an upward shift in the urbanization rates at every level of income per capita – especially for the richer and poorer countries.…”

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confidence: 99%

The Drivers of Structural Change

Neuss

2018

Journal of Economic Surveys

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The main goal of this paper is to provide an integrated survey of the literature devoted to identifying the drivers of structural change, broadly defined as the process of reallocation of economic activity across the three broad sectors agriculture, manufacturing and services. Using the GGDC 10‐Sector Database, this paper first presents the empirical facts associated with structural change in different regions of the world – that is Europe and the USA, Asia, Latin America, and Africa – then reviews four determinants of structural change: (i) changes in income, (ii) changes in relative (sectoral) prices, (iii) changes in input–output linkages and (iv) changes in comparative advantage(s) via globalization and trade.

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“…Hence, urbanization becomes a byproduct of industrialization. This mechanism, in fact, reflects rather well the development processes at work in today's developed countries: urbanization and city growth were strongly tied to the industrialization of their economies and economic growth (Jedwab and Vollrath, 2015). This traditional explanation is, however, somewhat at odds with the developments the world has witnessed over the past decades.…”

Section: Urbanization Cities and Economic Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Urbanization, cities and economic growth: trends, recent evidence and policy implications

Frick¹

2018

Regions

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Susanne Frick re-examines ideas about the link between urban agglomeration and economic development and suggests new policy thinking is needed to stimulate economic growth in developed and developing countries. :Introduction: How do urbanization and cities impact economic development?This question has long attracted attention from both academics and policy-makers. The tenor and policy descriptions in most parts of the economics literature have been clear:Urbanization, and more specifically large scale cities, boost people's productivity and hence drive economic growth. Policy-makers should thus favour large cities and concentrated urban structures over a more dispersed spatial development.In recent years, however, this assertion has come under increasing scrutiny. Researchers from different disciplines have painted a more nuanced picture in which city size plays an important role, but not one without limits and only under certain circumstances. The unprecedented city growth in the developing world has further called into question the mantra that cities are always growth enhancing. This idea has been mainly based on developed country evidence, but urban performance in the developing world has not always necessarily followed the same pattern.The following article examines the fundamental changes that have occurred over the past sixty years in terms of urbanization and city growth, discusses the recent literature on the topic, and lays out the implications for policy-makers.It argues that dogmatic policy prescriptions, uniformly favouring big cities and agglomerations, are too simplistic and can often lead to sub-optimal outcomes. A realistic and effective response to this important topic will need to be more multifaceted and involve policy action both at the local and national level.

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Urbanization without growth in historical perspective

Cited by 151 publications

References 95 publications

Herbarium specimens reveal increasing herbivory over the past century

Herbarium specimens reveal increasing herbivory over the past century

The Drivers of Structural Change

Urbanization, cities and economic growth: trends, recent evidence and policy implications

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