Missing links between urban economic growth theory and real estate development processes: Economic growth and building investments in the city of ‘s‐Hertogenbosch

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Abstract
Recent contributions to the literature on urban economic theory focus mainly on the relations between changes in the organization of firms and the spatial restructuring of urban regions. In this respect, it is argued that changes in the production system result in new locational preferences of firms and consequently in changes in the spatial pattern of cities. In this paper we stress the relevance of both shifts in the organization of firms and markets with respect to urban spatial restructuring processes, but at the same time we notice an important shortcoming in this theoretical tradition: processes that are being held responsible for the provision of the built environment ‐ the way in which the urban spatial structure is actually changed ‐ are generally neglected. The interconnectedness of these different processes is demonstrated empirically in a case study of developments that took place in the region Noordoost‐Brabant. It is concluded that institutional urban economic theory is only partially able to explain the observed developments. The dynamics of urban economic growth and the processes that underlie property market functioning should be studied in relation to each other.

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