> Many more economic sectors tend to be spread out geographically -- such as higher education, caring for the elderly, installation of smart-home equipment, fra

> Many more economic sectors tend to be spread out geographically -- such as higher education, caring for the elderly, installation of smart-home equipment, fracking, restaurants -- and if more economic activity takes these forms, to some extent rents will equalize across different cities. I do not buy this. In the countryside the economy is backed by the local resources (forestry, agriculture, if it applies fracking etc.). The rest of the economy in the countryside lives off the money brought in by those, and especially off the wages of the workers. The more automatisation you have, the less you need people spread out. The trend is that things get cheaper and need less work that is more centralized. What you need to be able to do is creating new things, and that is easier in centralized megacities.