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China has 100 cities with a population greater than 1 million. And they are planning to build another 100 cities with 1 million+ people in the next 10 year. ht

China has 100 cities with a population greater than 1 million. And they are planning to build another 100 cities with 1 million+ people in the next 10 year. https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/mar/20/china-100-cities-populations-bigger-liverpool https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/mar/20/china-100-cit... To put that into perspective, europe has 33. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_European_cities_by_population_within_city_limits https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_European_cities_by_pop... We have 10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_by_population https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_b... There has been a correlation between cities and civilization. The rise of cities and economic growth/production. And the rise of cities and power. It happened with ancient civilizations. It happened with europe. It happened with the US. The question is whether this will hold for china and what it will mean for the world. They are building a university every week. http://www.bbc.com/news/business-35776555 http://www.bbc.com/news/business-35776555 This is similar to what we did in the US in the 1800s as our economy grew by leaps and bounds. Most of our top universities from stanford to MIT were founded in the 1800s. Will the european and american model of the past 500 years hold for china? How will they maneuver through the current international order to get the resources they need for their cities and to gain access to markets? If the model holds, then we are looking at an explosion of science, culture, innovation and growth. But the worrisome part is that europe and american also expanded, stole land, resources and conquered territories.

igravious 9y ago
Again, more proof if one needed it. And fascinating links that you provide that shows the societal changes are massive in terms of urbanisation and education. I think the difference this time is that there is nowhere to expand to that is way "behind". The world has already globalised to a great degree. You raise interesting questions and I'm glad you put your thoughts as questions rather than the usual "this will happen" or "that will happen" when the truth is it'll only be obvious through hindsight or unless we get far better societal predictive tools.
vonmoltke 9y ago
> China has 100 cities with a population greater than 1 million. Correction: China has 102 (specifically) urban areas over 1 million people. The same report lists 42 for the US (I didn't bother to count Europe, but I think it's larger). "City" is an arbitrary and unreliable unit of measure. For example, there are over 6 million people in South Florida, but no city over 500,000 people and only two over 200,000.

igravious 9y ago

Again, more proof if one needed it. And fascinating links that you provide that shows the societal changes are massive in terms of urbanisation and education. I think the difference this time is that there is nowhere to expand to that is way "behind". The world has already globalised to a great degree. You raise interesting questions and I'm glad you put your thoughts as questions rather than the usual "this will happen" or "that will happen" when the truth is it'll only be obvious through hindsight or unless we get far better societal predictive tools.

vonmoltke 9y ago

> China has 100 cities with a population greater than 1 million. Correction: China has 102 (specifically) urban areas over 1 million people. The same report lists 42 for the US (I didn't bother to count Europe, but I think it's larger). "City" is an arbitrary and unreliable unit of measure. For example, there are over 6 million people in South Florida, but no city over 500,000 people and only two over 200,000.