A great read via The Atlantic Wire - Whither the 21st-Century City? by Heather Horn.

“[T]he “information revolution” was supposed to “make cities irrelevant,” explains Mario Polèse in City Journal, but “that hasn’t happened.” Instead, “big cities have continued to grow.” Why? And what challenges will that present to cities already struggling with numerous logistical challenges?

Horn presents excerpts of three writers on the above question - Whither Cities?

• Why Big Cities Matter More Than Ever’ Big cities endure, according to Mario Polèse, due to a number of factors: “economies of scale in production … economies of scale in trade and transportation … falling transportation and communication costs … the quest for the center,” and the “buzz and bright lights” factor. The “quest for the center” is about businesses “naturally want[ing] to locate in the geographic center of their markets.” For all of these reasons, Polèse says that, despite the challenges cities face (”municipal debt, onerous taxes, the cost of living, and crumbling infrastructure”), “people will continue to seek places where they can share ideas, make transactions, and pursue their dreams.” This ties in nicely with the “buzz and bright lights” idea:..
  
• Other Advantages James Joyner at Outside the Beltway agrees on the necessity of people congregating in one place: “I can frankly write from anywhere,” he writes, “but connections matter and, in the politics and foreign affairs realm, they’re going to be made in Washington and, to a lesser extent, New York.” In addition, he points out, he could lose his job today and have “an excellent chance” of finding “comparable employment without moving.
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• The Big Coming Problems: Transportation and Sustainability Ben Tuxworth writes at Grist about the “crisis of mobility heading our way,” as growing cities already “struggling to provide effective mass transit” try to keep up.

Tags: Ben Tuxworth, cities, city center, Heather Horn, James Joyner, Mario Polese, The Atlantic Wire, transit, Windsor