General entry requirements + Mathematics 2a or Mathematics 2b or Mathematics 2c, Science studies 1b or Science studies 1a1+1a2 and Civics 1b or Civics 1a1 +1a2, English 6 or equivalent

The course does not belong to a main field of study.

This course gives an introduction to how the links between economic activities and urban spatial structures are studied and understood in economic theory. The course delves into how economic activities and factors impact urban development, land use, and localization of business, residential, industrial, and logistics areas. In the course, students will acquire knowledge in basic economic theory relevant to understanding localization, clustering, and agglomeration patterns at both the urban and regional scales and use digital tools and geographical analytical methods to study and understand these patterns. The course also covers the roles of housing, transport labor markets, and urban land rent for urban and regional growth and development. In addition, the course covers the relationship between economic mechanisms and sustainable development by addressing how economic factors influence urban sprawl and urban densification and how the decision-making of various stakeholders, including governments, relates to economic processes and activities, e.g., how they manage and mitigate negative externalities such as pollution, congestion, and crime. The students will also develop skills to propose and present planning measures for urban areas regarding construction, infrastructure, commercial zones, logistics services, etc. and argue for their proposals, taking environmental and social sustainability as well as equality and digitization into account.

Following successful completion of the course students must demonstrate the ability to:

1. explain and critically assess urban economic theories and models, and fundamental concepts used in urban economics,
2. explain and analyse the role of different economic factors and processes related to localization patterns, clustering, agglomeration, land use, transport, housing, and urban and regional development
3. assess externalities of urban activities, such as pollution, congestion, segregation or crime, understand the role of different stakeholders in generating externalities, and suggest remedies for externalities,
4. propose, analyse and evaluate different planning measures and policies, concerning housing, commercial or industrial land use etc., using geographic data and apply relevant economic theory concepts,
5. critically discuss and reflect on the role of economic factors in the decision-making of various stakeholders in the context of urban and regional economies, taking environmental and social sustainability as well as equality and digitization into account.

Lectures, seminars, self-studies, individual assignment and oral presentation.

• Individual examination (5 hp) (UA) (learning outcome 1, 2, and 3)
• Project in group (2,5 hp) (UG) (learning outcomes 3, 4 and 5)

All learning goals are individually assessed.

To pass the course in its entirety, all examinations need to be passed (G/E).

The final grade is determined by the grade on the individual examination.

• Browne M. et al. (latest edition). Urban Logistics. KoganPage, London.
• Dixit, A. (2014). Microeconomics: A very short introduction. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
• O’Sullivan. E. (ed 8 or later) Urban economics. McGraw Hill Higher Education, New York.

Additional materials are provided electronically.

Malmö University provides students who participate in, or who have completed a course, with the opportunity to express their opinions and describe their experiences of the course by completing a course evaluation administered by the University. The University will compile and summarise the results of course evaluations. The University will also inform participants of the results and any decisions relating to measures taken in response to the course evaluations. The results will be made available to the students (HF 1:14).

If a course is no longer offered, or has undergone significant changes, the students must be offered two opportunities for re-examination based on the syllabus that applied at the time of registration, for a period of one year after the changes have been implemented.

If a student has a Learning support decision, the examiner has the right to provide the student with an adapted test, or to allow the student to take the exam in a different format. The syllabus is a translation of a Swedish source text.