Urban Growth in the 1990s: Is City Living Back?

The 1990s were an unusually good decade for the largest American cities and, in particular, for the cities of the Midwest. However, fundamentally urban growth in the 1990s looked extremely similar to urban growth during prior post–war decades. The growth of cities was determined by three main trends: (1) cities with strong human capital bases grew faster than cities without skills, (2) people moved to warmer, drier places, and (3) cities built around the automobile replaced cities that rely on public transportation. Although the negative impact of population density diminished slightly in the 1990s, there is no real evidence for a return to large, dense cities.     

THE COMPLEMENTARITY BETWEEN CITIES AND SKILLS*

ABSTRACT There is a strong connection between per‐worker productivity and metropolitan area population, which is commonly interpreted as evidence for the existence of agglomeration economies. This correlation is particularly strong in cities with higher levels of skill and virtually nonexistent in less skilled metropolitan areas. This fact is particularly compatible with the view that urban density is important because proximity spreads knowledge, which either makes workers more skilled or entrepreneurs more productive. Bigger cities certainly attract more skilled workers, and there is some evidence suggesting that human capital accumulates more quickly in urban areas.     

Diversity in North Pacific shellfish assemblages: the barnacles of Kit’n’Kaboodle Cave,Alaska

Although the dietary importance of barnacles is recognized in Europe and elsewhere around the world, indigenous use of barnacles on the Pacific coast of North America has not been well-documented. On the Northwest Coast, most shell middens located along estuaries are dominated by clams (such as Saxidomus, Protothaca, etc.), while those on the outer coast are dominated by mussels (Mytilus californianus). At Kit’n’Kaboodle Cave in southeast Alaska, the acorn barnacle Semibalanus cariosus is unusually abundant over a 3500-year period, but is replaced by mussels over time. These results are placed within a larger geographic context to more closely examine patterns of barnacle use by First Nations of the Pacific Northwest.