An introduction to geographical and urban economics : a spiky world The purpose of our book is to offer an introduction to urban and geographical economics the two dominant approaches in mainstream economics to explain the distribution of economic activity across space. The fact that we offer an introduction does not mean that we avoid models or shy away from more advanced or difficult concepts; it indicates that we have attempted to write a book that is both accessible to readers and students who are new to the field but also of interest to fellow researchers. This book builds upon the 1st and 2nd editions of 2001 and 2009 respectively