Abstract

In this research we analyze the main drivers of the growth of cities, according to their sizes: Mega, Big, Midsize, etc., applying a cross-country analysis that involves about 114 countries in a period of time of forty years (1960-2000). We look for differences in the underlying factors of cities growth particularly among large agglomerations, which are attracting great interest among policy makers. Secondly, we have tried to verify if the growth of cities is linked to urbanization processes that encompass economic structural transformations (performing urbanism), or if their growth is linked to dynamics that disadvantage further economic development (non-performing urbanism). Once considered the relation between the evolution of cities sizes and the shape of the urban structure (using the Zipf’s parameter and other urban variables) we analyze the quality of this structure as a “new” deep determinant of economic growth. This is why, in the last part of the research, we look for possible relations between the quality of the urban structure and economic growth. Our results indicate that growth in very large agglomeration tends to be “non-performing” and that the urban structure which fits better with economic growth is characterized by high urbanization rates but low hierarchical structures.