Why Cities Matter

Apr 22

lindsayrgwattBusiness, Technology 2 Comments

When the Internet arrived in force in the ’90s, one of the promises was a new era of telecommuting.  You could live in the middle of nowhere but be part of the high tech workforce in a major city.  However, this hasn’t played out and, in fact, the opposite appears to be happening: cities matter more than ever.

This little chart from a recent Brookings Institute presentation (note: PDF) sums it up more beautifully than anything I could say:

  • matthewdbenson

    Nice find.

    In a world where everyone is virtually connected, humans nevertheless need physical, face-to-face interaction – that happens best where people are aggregated nearby such that 'meeting up' is easy to do (in a bar, library, park, sports hall, etc.).

    Cities have large populations located close to each other with facilities to enable/support meeting up. Cities will indeed thrive in my view.

  • http://lindsayrgwatt.com/blog lindsayrgwatt

    Totally. Where it gets interesting is playing it out. Do we end up with two Americas? A rich, urban American and a (relatively) poorer rural America? The last 30 years feel like we're moving that way and should we try and stop it or accept it and retool?