Cities%20in%20Eurasia

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Cities in Eurasia
A Brainstorming Session Yerevan, Oct 26-27
2009 Chorching Goh, the World Bank
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Vision
Which places might a 21st century Silk Road
connect?
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Vision
In other words, where will the rather dim night
sky of Eurasia twinkle in 20 years if things are
done right?
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Motivation
What will the Eurasia economic landscape look
like in 20 years? Moscow has shrunk from a
mountain to a foothill in an economic landscape
that includes Japan
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Motivation
How CIS cities can lift their economies out of
commodity dependence, and diversify through
scale economies and connectivity?
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sub-Disciplines

• Economic Geography
• Urban Economics
• City Planning

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Questions

• Location of people and production
• Long-term evolution of CIS cities as the legacy
  of the Soviet Empire gives way to forces of trade
  and international cooperation
• Functions of cities
• Types of scale economies they exploit
• Policies
• Transport infrastructure
• Land and housing market institutions

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Analyses

• Economic linkages between large cities
• Infrastructure
• Trade facilitation
• Agglomeration economies productivity
• Scale economies
• Economic diversification
• Reform in land and housing markets
• Regulatory, credit and financing, and taxation
• From public ownership to private property rights

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ANNEX
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Economy Population (mil. 2007) GNI per capita Agglomeration () 2000 UN Urban () Pri Citys Pop 2009 (mil)
Armenia 3 2,640 69.6 65.1 1.21
Azerbaijan 9 2,550 48.7 50.9 1.19
Belarus 10 4,220 60.6 70.0 1.76
Georgia 4 2,120 50.2 52.7 1.14
Kazakhstan 15 5,060 50.6 56.3 1.35
Kyrgyzstan 5 590 34.0 35.4 0.930
Moldova 4 1,260 49.4 46.1 0.586
Russia 142 7,560 64.8 73.4 10.5
Tajikistan 7 460 36.2 25.9 0.704
Turkmenistan 5 -- 42.6 45.1 0.695
Ukraine 46 2,550 63.9 67.2 2.3
Uzbekistan 27 730 54.2 37.3 2.14