Agglomeration Patterns in a Long Narrow Economy of a New Economic Geography Model: Analogy to a racetrack economy

Narrow industrial belts comprising a system of cities are prospering worldwide. The self-organization of a system of cities in a long narrow economy of a new economic geography model is demonstrated through a comparative study with a racetrack economy, which is an idealized uniform trading space. A spatially repeated core-periphery pattern a la Christaller and Lösch emerges when agglomeration forces are large. Peripheral zones of this pattern are enlarged recursively to engender agglomeration shadow en route to an atomic mono-center. A megalopolis emerges when agglomeration forces are small.