Economic Restructuring and the American City

Abstract

Transformations in the composition and locational patterns of the economy have assumed specific forms in cities and in the urban hierarchy. The new service-dominated urbanization, particularly evident in major cities, has distinct consequences for a range of social conditions. Here we focus especially on the characteristics of today's leading industries, the producer services, disproportionately concentrated in major cities; the impact of restructuring on the earnings distribution generally and in major cities in particular, and the impact of urban restructuring on minorities, a population increasingly concentrated in large cities.