The Rise and Fall of Urban Economies: Lessons from San Francisco and Los Angeles

Michael Storper and his colleagues present a detailed and comprehensive history and comparison of the urban areas of Los Angeles and San Francisco. From these stories they develop concepts and mechanisms that are relevant way beyond the two city regions, in fact they offer students of economic geography and politicians tools for both studying regional development and implementing policies. They also illustrate how the differentiated development trajectories are path dependent. In addition, the authors present several relevant theories in a precise and readable way.

The "Rise and Fall" of urban areas deals with an important issue in the country today: why are some urban areas becoming more successful and generating more economic wealth and other are stagnating or declining. What makes this book helpful is the presentation of strategies and actionable items that leaders in urban regions can use. Most importantly these approaches can be undertaken and controlled within the region and do not rely on outside help.Mark PisanoProfessor of Practice of Public AdministrationSol Price School of PolicyUniversity of Southern California

Very interesting comparison of LA and San Francisco. And very informative for a LA resident. I appreciated the data analysis as someone with two graduate degrees in urban planning, but the comparisons of corporations' behaviors in the two metropolitan areas was even more interesting.