Green cities? Urbanization, trade, and the environment

In this paper, a simple core–periphery model with monocentric cities was established to study the impact of the urban evolution on the environment. Results from the analysis is that an urban system with cities of balanced size generates less GHG emissions than the prevailing one with a strong core‐periphery asymmetry and that market forces prevailing in the urban system alone do not suffice to generate an EKC.