Urban Economics
Instructors: Andrea LaßmannShortname: Urban Economics
Course No.: 03.184.4185
Course Type: Vorlesung
Requirements / organisational issues
An interest in microeconomics and a good command of English. This course is best suited for third-year students onwards.Recommended reading list
Books used in this course (optional):Urban Economics, by Arthur O'Sullivan, 9th Edition
Contents
"Nobody can afford to live in New York. Yet, 8 million people do.”* Have you also wondered why people crowd in exciting but expensive places? This course uses economic theory and empirical evidence to understand why and how cities form, and to shed light on the benefits and costs of cities. We focus on the following questions. Why do cities and agglomerations emerge? What causes urban growth and decline? Can cities be too big? Why does the price of land vary within cities? Why is economic activity unequally distributed within cities and agglomerations?*This is a quote from Fran Leibowitz in Pretend its a City, Netflix.
In the lecture, we go through simple economic theory in graphical form. We offer videos, which allow you to refresh some basic microeconomic topics. You will need these basics to understand urban economic theory that we discuss in the lecture. These theories explain urban patterns, and the effect of urban and regional policies for urban and regional outcomes. Quizzes allow you to evaluate your progress.
The tutorial serves to apply our skills. You will use basic maths and graphical analysis to solve problem sets based on the theories discussed in the lecture. We offer detailed explanations of the solutions in the tutorial, but encourage you to have a look at the problem sets before each tutorial. We also upload short solutions on LMS (Moodle).
Grading:
E-exam (60 minutes) covering the lecture content and similar to the problem sets covered in the tutorials. Successful students will receive 6 ECTS. Active participation in the class is highly acknowledged and a mock e-exam will be provided (on ILIAS). To access ILIAS, you will need your username and password. You are not allowed to use your cellphone during the exam to obtain them.
Additional information
We will make the materials available to all enrolled students via LMS Moodle and Panopto. Please get in touch (by appointment) to discuss your questions concerning the course.Dates
| Date (Day of the week) | Time | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 10/28/2025 (Tuesday) | 10:15 - 11:45 | 00 251 HS V 1121 - Haus Recht und Wirtschaft II |
| 11/04/2025 (Tuesday) | 10:15 - 11:45 | 00 251 HS V 1121 - Haus Recht und Wirtschaft II |
| 11/11/2025 (Tuesday) | 10:15 - 11:45 | 00 251 HS V 1121 - Haus Recht und Wirtschaft II |
| 11/18/2025 (Tuesday) | 10:15 - 11:45 | 00 251 HS V 1121 - Haus Recht und Wirtschaft II |
| 11/25/2025 (Tuesday) | 10:15 - 11:45 | 00 251 HS V 1121 - Haus Recht und Wirtschaft II |
| 12/02/2025 (Tuesday) | 10:15 - 11:45 | 00 251 HS V 1121 - Haus Recht und Wirtschaft II |
| 12/09/2025 (Tuesday) | 10:15 - 11:45 | 00 251 HS V 1121 - Haus Recht und Wirtschaft II |
| 12/16/2025 (Tuesday) | 10:15 - 11:45 | 00 251 HS V 1121 - Haus Recht und Wirtschaft II |
| 01/06/2026 (Tuesday) | 10:15 - 11:45 | 00 251 HS V 1121 - Haus Recht und Wirtschaft II |
| 01/13/2026 (Tuesday) | 10:15 - 11:45 | 00 251 HS V 1121 - Haus Recht und Wirtschaft II |
| 01/20/2026 (Tuesday) | 10:15 - 11:45 | 00 251 HS V 1121 - Haus Recht und Wirtschaft II |
| 01/27/2026 (Tuesday) | 10:15 - 11:45 | 00 251 HS V 1121 - Haus Recht und Wirtschaft II |
| 02/03/2026 (Tuesday) | 10:15 - 11:45 | 00 251 HS V 1121 - Haus Recht und Wirtschaft II |
| 02/10/2026 (Tuesday) | 10:15 - 11:45 | 00 251 HS V 1121 - Haus Recht und Wirtschaft II |