Centrality and Capital Costs in Urban Areas: Policy Watch for Spain

For decades the discussion on the local public services in urban areas pivoted on the advantages and disadvantages of central cities. Their effects are difficult to measure and mitigate, the benefits are debatable although the literature proposes a set of answers. Some of these options have been adopted in practice through different economic policy measures that spark a debate. This paper is the first to collect a survey with the different positions regarding the costs and benefits of centrality and it also provides a policy watch of economic policy measures that have been put into practice in Spain.