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This is true, but I also think the answer is addressing the problem of seemingly all opportunity being concentrated in less than 10 cities. Cities face inevitab

by api 8y ago

This is true, but I also think the answer is addressing the problem of seemingly all opportunity being concentrated in less than 10 cities. Cities face inevitable scaling limits. There has always been regional inequality of opportunity, but never to this degree. A great way to see the problem is to look at where the top ten most popular early personal computers came from. You will see places like Philadelphia (C64), Miami/Boca Raton (IBM), Dallas (TI), and Albuquerque (Altair). These days it would be almost all the Bay Area and maybe one from Seattle, NYC, Boston, or LA metro.

erentz 8y ago
> Cities face inevitable scaling limits. The scaling limits being reached in CA are completely self imposed ones that have tested to the limit just how far it is possible to sprawl a city. All the way into the central valley it turns out. > There has always been regional inequality of opportunity, but never to this degree. This has been happening since people first settled in permanent locations. The trend isn't going to stop and the only way to reverse it would be to interfere pretty strongly with the market. What are you going to do, set up a central government agency that tells citizens where they can and can't live? That says how many "computer companies" are allowed to exist in a city and ban anyone from starting a new one? It's a fair observation but it's a pointless one that distracts from reality and actual solutions.
- 0x445442 8y ago
  > What are you going to do, set up a central government agency that tells citizens where they can and can't live? I didn't see api suggest government intervention. I imagine at some point, if FAANG doesn't adjust the wages for their direct, local employees or start to contribute more to supporting service sectors then they'll be forced to decentralize. I see no insurmountable reasons preventing Google spreading to Wichita, Akron or Chatanooga, the employees just need to start demanding better living conditions. That said, it seems like younger folks want to live in environments more like Tokyo than Des Moines.
0xB31B1B 8y ago
Strong disagree. Urban aggregation is a global phenomenon in modern times, literally every country is seeing a rise of “mega cities”. It’s because workers are choosing to move to these cities as these cities have more opportunities for workers due to efficiencies of scale. The most dynamic economies are encouraging moving to mega cities (ex: China). Cities might have “scaling limits” but there is no evidence that any city in the world has approached these limits.
- api 8y ago
  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_rent https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_rent

by api 8y ago

erentz 8y ago

> Cities face inevitable scaling limits. The scaling limits being reached in CA are completely self imposed ones that have tested to the limit just how far it is possible to sprawl a city. All the way into the central valley it turns out. > There has always been regional inequality of opportunity, but never to this degree. This has been happening since people first settled in permanent locations. The trend isn't going to stop and the only way to reverse it would be to interfere pretty strongly with the market. What are you going to do, set up a central government agency that tells citizens where they can and can't live? That says how many "computer companies" are allowed to exist in a city and ban anyone from starting a new one? It's a fair observation but it's a pointless one that distracts from reality and actual solutions.

0x445442 8y ago
> What are you going to do, set up a central government agency that tells citizens where they can and can't live? I didn't see api suggest government intervention. I imagine at some point, if FAANG doesn't adjust the wages for their direct, local employees or start to contribute more to supporting service sectors then they'll be forced to decentralize. I see no insurmountable reasons preventing Google spreading to Wichita, Akron or Chatanooga, the employees just need to start demanding better living conditions. That said, it seems like younger folks want to live in environments more like Tokyo than Des Moines.

0xB31B1B 8y ago

Strong disagree. Urban aggregation is a global phenomenon in modern times, literally every country is seeing a rise of “mega cities”. It’s because workers are choosing to move to these cities as these cities have more opportunities for workers due to efficiencies of scale. The most dynamic economies are encouraging moving to mega cities (ex: China). Cities might have “scaling limits” but there is no evidence that any city in the world has approached these limits.

api 8y ago
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_rent https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_rent