Urban Economics (New York City)

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Introduction

New York City is the most densely populated city in the United States of America with a population of about eight million people in an area of 784 square kilometers.

The five boroughs, which make up New York City, are Brooklyn, Bronx, Manhattan, Staten Island, and Queens. New York City has an estimated population of eight million and three hundred thousand people according to the census of 2012. The city of New York is part of the state of New York and is a global power city, which exerts a major impact upon trade, media, technology, and entertainment. It also houses the United Nations headquarters.

With over 800 languages spoken in the city of New York, this depicts it as the cultural centre of the world. New York City boasts many landmarks making it one of the most travelled cities in the world. Annually, over 50 million visitors visit New York City. Among this, landmarks there are skyscrapers, world-renowned bridges, and parks and form a force to reckon in the world’s entertainment history (Jackson 34).

Sources of agglomeration economics in New York City

The term agglomeration economies refers to the benefits that firms get when they locate near each other and relates to the economies of scale concept as well as the network effect.

The five principle sources of agglomeration economies are location centrality, knowledge spillovers, skills matching, and labor pooling and input sharing. New York City enjoys all this agglomeration benefits making it a robust industrial hub. Among the economic forces holding the city together are, the unemployment levels, the fiscal policies, the inflation rates and the government policy.

Firms operating in this city have an operating environment conducive for profitability since the city enjoys a good source of raw materials, and a good supply of the labor resource and at the end a large market for the finished products. New York has an expansive real estate industry forming a significant force in the city’s economy. As well, New York has comparatively advantaged television and creative industry (Jackson 47).

Growth rate and industries spurring growth in New York City

An estimate from the Bureau of Economic Analysis indicates that the New York City economy grew by 3.3 % in 2005. Technology forms the leading factor of growth for New York with the city now boasting a number of state of the art technology industries such as software development, biotechnology, and internet services. This is largely attributable to the city’s position as the terminus of a number of fiber optic lines. The city remains steadfast in growth and is a major economic force to reckon in the United States economy (Dunbar 17).

Public goods offered by the city

The city offers a numerous variety of public goods including renowned parks, universities, museums, colleges and public universities. Among them are the Empire State Building, Times Square, the Central Park, and the New York Botanical Garden. New York has a good mass transport system and one of the most efficient water supply systems from the Catskill Mountains Watershed. Among the notable educational institutions are Columbia University, New York University and the Barnada College (Dunbar 59).

Crime

The city has held a low crime rate compared to other densely populated cities in America since the year 2005. In 2012, the city of New York had the lowest homicide rate in America. Many attribute this fall in crime rates statistics to the tactics in use by the dynamic New York City Police Department (Jackson 83).

Urban landscape

Because of the increasing population and the unchanging amount of land available for urban development, planners are increasingly opting for high-rise buildings such as the Chrysler building, which is about, 200 meters high. Rent prices are way beyond the United States average with prices starting from $1,476 per square foot for an office.

The city’s architects have been continuously working towards maintaining a “natural built environment” whereas attaining maximum use of the available land space. There are a number of regulations available to control development in New York City and most especially within the city centre. Such include the 1916 Zoning Resolution, which aims at regulating the amount of sunlight that reaches the ground. Stone and brick are the major building materials for most of the city’s structures (Jackson 156).

Neighborhoods

Immigrants make up to 36% of the city’s population. This is because of the New York City’s position as a major entry port for immigrants into the United States of America. Among the communities living in the New York City Metropolitan Area are the Indian Americans, Korean Americans, the Jewish community, African Americans and Russian Americans.

Transport

The city enjoys a largely efficient 24 hours a day mass transport system making it the most energy efficient city in America. Statistically one in every three users of United States’ mass transit systems lives in New York City. Among the world’s largest railway stations are in this city. Major railway stations include the New York City Subway and the Grand Central Terminal. The city also enjoys a good air network and currently has the busiest air corridors (Dunbar 93).

Finance

New York business district hosts the world famed Wall Street, which is arguably, the leading financial centre in the world. The city continues to hold its place as first across the globe in attracting capital and is currently a main hub for finance and banking, transportation, tourism, legal services fashion among others.

Currently, the city is the greatest metropolitan economy in the United States of America. As well, as at 2008, New York City controlled 40% of the world’s finances. The city has one of the greatest world stock exchanges, the New York Stock Exchange, which is located on Wall Street and which has an enormous market capitalization (Dunbar 22).

New York greatest Challenges and successes

The rapid growth in the city’s population and its place as a world economic, social, and financial hub has been the greatest challenge in terms of planning. City planners are always seeking new ways to match the city resources to the ever-increasing needs. It is important to note that even though the city’s growth maintains a trajectory path, the available resources remain static.

The challenge, thus, is to match up the available limited facilities such as roads, rail networks, water supply system, and ultimately land, to the dynamic needs of the city. Luckily, the city’s planners have been up to the challenge and have been able to address the problem adequately. For instance, the city’s planners have been able to establish an effective transport system (Dunbar 134).

Works Cited

Dunbar, Douglas. Empire City: New York Through the Centuries. Columbia University, 2005. Print.

Jackson, Kenneth. The Encyclopedia of New York City. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012. Print.

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