4 ms·

Egypt has had an idea of splitting into several large cities each specialising on a particular thing (science, governance, etc) since the 90s. This could just b

by exdsq 6y ago

Egypt has had an idea of splitting into several large cities each specialising on a particular thing (science, governance, etc) since the 90s. This could just be the start of that plan.

Schiendelman 6y ago
And that itself is a great way to kill innovation and advancement. The core reason cities are good at economic growth is the mixture of dissimilar ideas.
- exdsq 6y ago
  I believe it’s what they’ve done in China which seems to work well, with Shenzhen (their research capital) being 2000km south of Beijing
  - fakedang 6y ago
    Yet Beijing is still home to some of the best universities in the country and the world. Honestly I've heard of Shenzhen as the manufacturing capital or the tech capital, but it's the first time I'm hearing of Shenzhen as a research hub. China is also not segregated by cities' expertise but by provincial policy. For example, some cities, like Hangzhou had a very preferential treatment towards tech, by virtue of the provincial investment fund being invested in tech companies compared to the usual state-owned steel mill crap.
- Barrin92 6y ago
  The reason cities are good at economic growth is because of agglomeration. If anything if you look at the actual characteristics of innovative communities they are very homogeneous, not dissimilar. See Silicon Valley or the Manhattan Project, or the Prussian bureaucracy, or Soviet scientific communities. Most innovative communities aren't some bleeding-heart melting pot but actually look like cults weary of outsiders.
  - IfOnlyYouKnew 6y ago
    Silicon Valley grew out of 1960s counterculture, which gets pretty close to „bleeding heart melting pot“. The other examples strike as somewhat peculiar, and probably not anybody’s idea of the Ideal, innovative city.
    - Barrin92 6y ago
      Californian counterculture today still has a self image of diversity but in reality it has its roots in a very like-minded white, middle-class bohemian culture, which is not coincidentally the exact class that dominates tech. Counter-culture later merged together with business into what was called the 'Californian ideology' in the 90s, and while it has this sort of melting pot burning man aesthetic going for it, intellectually it is incredibly homogeneous, extremely distinct from the rest of the US, and politically streamlined. Counter-cultures almost always are paradoxically 'melting-pots' of insanely like-minded people, the stubbornness is what makes them so effective. Once counter-culture starts to bleed into the mainstream (the actually diverse population) it dissipates.
    - rayiner 6y ago
      What? It grew out of the defense industry and California Republicanism: https://www.desertsun.com/story/opinion/columnists/2019/10/24/republicans-shaped-california-so-why-do-they-loathe-today-joe-mathews-connecting-california/4091330002/ https://www.desertsun.com/story/opinion/columnists/2019/10/2...

by exdsq 6y ago

Egypt has had an idea of splitting into several large cities each specialising on a particular thing (science, governance, etc) since the 90s. This could just be the start of that plan.

Schiendelman 6y ago

And that itself is a great way to kill innovation and advancement. The core reason cities are good at economic growth is the mixture of dissimilar ideas.

exdsq 6y ago
I believe it’s what they’ve done in China which seems to work well, with Shenzhen (their research capital) being 2000km south of Beijing
- fakedang 6y ago
  Yet Beijing is still home to some of the best universities in the country and the world. Honestly I've heard of Shenzhen as the manufacturing capital or the tech capital, but it's the first time I'm hearing of Shenzhen as a research hub. China is also not segregated by cities' expertise but by provincial policy. For example, some cities, like Hangzhou had a very preferential treatment towards tech, by virtue of the provincial investment fund being invested in tech companies compared to the usual state-owned steel mill crap.
Barrin92 6y ago
The reason cities are good at economic growth is because of agglomeration. If anything if you look at the actual characteristics of innovative communities they are very homogeneous, not dissimilar. See Silicon Valley or the Manhattan Project, or the Prussian bureaucracy, or Soviet scientific communities. Most innovative communities aren't some bleeding-heart melting pot but actually look like cults weary of outsiders.
- IfOnlyYouKnew 6y ago
  Silicon Valley grew out of 1960s counterculture, which gets pretty close to „bleeding heart melting pot“. The other examples strike as somewhat peculiar, and probably not anybody’s idea of the Ideal, innovative city.
  - Barrin92 6y ago
    Californian counterculture today still has a self image of diversity but in reality it has its roots in a very like-minded white, middle-class bohemian culture, which is not coincidentally the exact class that dominates tech. Counter-culture later merged together with business into what was called the 'Californian ideology' in the 90s, and while it has this sort of melting pot burning man aesthetic going for it, intellectually it is incredibly homogeneous, extremely distinct from the rest of the US, and politically streamlined. Counter-cultures almost always are paradoxically 'melting-pots' of insanely like-minded people, the stubbornness is what makes them so effective. Once counter-culture starts to bleed into the mainstream (the actually diverse population) it dissipates.
  - rayiner 6y ago
    What? It grew out of the defense industry and California Republicanism: https://www.desertsun.com/story/opinion/columnists/2019/10/24/republicans-shaped-california-so-why-do-they-loathe-today-joe-mathews-connecting-california/4091330002/ https://www.desertsun.com/story/opinion/columnists/2019/10/2...