La organización económica de las ciudades: una perspectiva institucional

The purpose of this article is to evaluate the explanatory power of neo-institutional theories for the economic organisation and disorganisation of cities, and to suggest institutional alternatives for these theories. First, major contemporary developments in the economic organisation of cities are summarised, paying special attention to the rise of professional services, the information city, the transaction city, the city as a knowledge-base for innovative manufacturing and services activities, the network city and urban networks. The main theories are examined and some indications are provided on how the neo-institutional analysis of the urban economic system can be improved, concretely by use of evolutionist economic as well as regulationist theory. The authors conclude that a more comprehensive analysis of the urban economy, based on a broader reading of institutional dynamics and economic processes, would make it possible to establish links with social and political dynamics in the city in a non-reductionist way.