Polèse's ability to distil the essence of urban and development economics into intelligible broad arguments makes for a very engaging read. The ambition is grand and Polèse has the ability to present ideas to a very broad inter-disciplinary audience, and a wider non-scholarly audience too, in a beautifully engaging and clear fashion.
Mario Polèse is professor emeritus at INRS, a research university, Centre Urbanisation Culture Societé in Montreal, Canada. Books authored or coauthored include The Wealth and Poverty of Regions; Connecting Cities with Macroeconomic Concerns; The Social Sustainability of Cities.