Professor Glaeser of Harvard University Assesses Turkey‘s Urbanization… Stating that Turkey has been a model in terms of economic transformation, Professor Ed Glaeser of Harvard University recommended paying attention to cars.

ANKARA – Professor Ed Glaeser from Harvard University held a presentation on urban economics at TEPAV’s Turkey Urbanization Review workshop. Shedding light upon urban transformation in the US, he also commented on Turkey’s urban transformation.

Glaeser, having visited Turkey as a child in the 1970s added that “Turkey has become and will be a model for the rest of the world in terms of economic development and transformation.”

Talking about transportation as one of the key elements of urbanization, Glaeser said that all new American cities have been built as “car cities”, each connected to a highway.

“Time to act”

”The time to act is before 80 percent of the population commutes to work by car. Because once that happens, the possibility of reforms will disappear. The time for Turkey to act is now. It is the right time to decide how to build infrastructure, or whether to use smart cars…”

In an interview after his presentation, Glaeser states that Turkey should focus on the increase in cars and the rising housing sector. Stressing the importance of advancing the subway and other mass transportation systems, which he deem to be vital for urban development, he says that it is senseless to try to solve transportation problems by promoting an increase in cars and building new roads.

“Cities which leveraged human capital did not collapse”

Sharing American experiences of urbanization from his new book Triumph of the City, he said that the growth of nations depends on cities, and not villages as Gandhi argued five decades ago. He emphasized that urban dwellers show higher levels of self reported happiness than their rural counterparts, and drew attention to the link between rising incomes, lower infant mortality rates and urbanization.

He also touched upon the issue of declining cities in the US. Citing Detroit as an example, he explained that it used to be a pioneering city in the 1910s but had turned into a single-industry city by 1950. Today, the city has more infrastructure than it needs and a declining population.

Professor Glaeser, asserting that knowledge is more important than edifices and that cities which rely on knowledge succeed, said:

“Not all large US cities are a story of urban decline. Nor are the stories of Liverpool, Glasgow, Boston, San Francisco or Cleveland… These are not in decline. The main theme of cities that came back is human capital. These cities came back because they invested in skills and leveraged urban density. The same proximity that once got barrels onto ships now facilitates the flow of ideas. The cities that were able to come back are entrepreneurial and idea-intensive.”

Please click here to watch Professor Glaeser’s presentation.