82 - Edward Glaeser: Why we should love cities

Betrouwbare Bronnen

In Betrouwbare Bronnen episode 82 Jaap Jansen en PG Kroeger have a conversation with economist Edward Glaeser, the Fred and Eleanor Glimp professor at Harvard University, specialised in the economy of cities.

“Globalisation and new technologies have radically increased the returns to being smart", Glaeser says. "We are social species that get smart by being around other smart people. Face to face contact is still highly relevant, so cities are. On our own we are puny creatures. Collectively, we do miraculous things. Cities are machines for enabling us to collaborate. To buy and sell, to meet and to learn from one another. In a very deep sense, we are an urban species. We become more human when we are surrounded by other humans. And that’s what cities do.”

We also talk about problems in city governance, such as building houses for everyone, airbnb and dealing with too many tourists.

“Building new houses in Dutch cities is less easier than in the United States, because your cities are more precious and beautiful. Messing with them is a more risky bussiness. If you have to many tourists, you are not charging them enough. And think about some mild law and order interventions. Drunk young tourists wouldn’t behave the same in their hometowns, because they would be locked up and jailed.”

Professor Glaeser warns politicians – such as the Democrats in the United States – not to cut off ties with rural areas and their inhabitants. “Succesfull urbanites have to find some common bond with these people, otherwise they’re gonna vote for some other politicians than you. If you nominate candidates that only speak to people who share your values, you have an America that’s split. And the same thing is true everywhere.”

Some cities, places and regions mentioned in this conversation: New York, Amsterdam, Houston, Pudong (Shanghai), Mumbai, Singapore, Chicago, the Eastern heartland of the U.S.

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Special thanks go to Tilburg University Society and professor Sylvester Eijffinger who facilitated this converstation when Edward Glaeser visited Tilburg University in january for the Vrienden van Cobbenhagen Lecture 2020.

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Reading more

Edward Glaeser’s website

Edward Glaeser - Triumph of the city, How Urban Spaces Make Us Human (Pan Macmillan 2012)

Robert A. Caro - The Power Broker, Robert Moses and the Fall of New York (Random House, 2004)

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This episode of Betrouwbare Bronnen has been made possible in part by Weee Nederland

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Timeline

00:00:00 – Intro

00:01:09 – Part 1

00:31:03 – Part 2

00:56:50 – Outro

00:57:23 – The End

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