The Bank of Italy organized a workshop based on the results of the research project on "Urban development, agglomeration economies and aggregate growth". The project was aimed to quantify and qualify the role of urban areas in the economic growth of our country. The first session has showed that the contribution of large urban areas to the national economy is lower than that of other advanced countries and has discussed the related historical and geographical reasons. The second session has examined the advantages of urban agglomeration and has showed that, in Italy, these advantages are lower with respect to those estimated in other countries. The third session has highlighted, in contrast, that the costs are high, especially in terms of house prices, thus acting as a brake on the agglomeration processes. Finally, the fourth session has discussed some possible implications in terms of economic policy, focused on the reduction of congestion costs and on a more effective exploitation of the agglomeration economies in Italian cities. The conference ended with a round table attended by both economists, experts in urban economics and regional science, and administrators of two Italian cities.
The programme and the slides are available here
