Economics: Why Everybody Should Live In Big Cities

(Drivebycuriosity) - I like big cities. I live in New York City and I enjoyed visiting London, Madrid, Bangkok, Mexico City and other metropolises. I think everybody should live in big cities. The metropolises have plenty of advantages. I don´t need a car (and I don`t have one) because the distances are short. Most things can be done by walking or using subways & buses. Therefore the costs of getting to somewhere (work, shopping, leisure) are much lower - the money saved can be spend for other things, if everybody would do that it would be a huge boon for the whole economy.

Big cities foster economic growth because they offer more opportunities (jobs, leisure, shopping)  which translates into a higher productivity of their residents  ( newyorkfed ). "When people cluster more tightly together, they become more productive", writes Bloomberg commentator Noah Smith (bloomberg). "Packed city centers are correlated with economic growth, talent levels, and diversity" notices the city expert Richard Florida  (citylab).

If everybody would move to big cities people would burn much less gasoline because they would commute much shorter distances. Americans depend on oil because many live in the hinterland and in the sprawl and they need to drive a lot. Oil - and gasoline - would be much cheaper thanks to the reduced demand - another boon for the economy. Today the US economy is addicted to gasoline and gets hurt when gas prices spike. Nine out of ten of the U.S. recessions since World War II were preceded by a spike up in oil prices, writes Prof. James D. Hamilton, University of California, San Diego ( pdf econweb). In 2008 rising household energy prices constrained household budgets and increased mortgage delinquency rates" (oilprice). Low income suburban homeowners suffered most from the rising gas prices.  Poor homeowners are called "subprime" and their delinquencies are known as "subprime crisis."

Burning much less gasoline would also significantly reduce the emission of CO2 and so global warming - maybe it would even stop it. 

If everyone - who is not already there - would move to the big cities, the sprawl would disappear. Today large areas of the US - and other countries - are covered with concrete: Houses, shopping malls, streets. These areas could be transformed back into the original nature - forests & grass lands - which also would reduce global warming.


 Vertical Cities


If the population of the US - about 320 million people - would live in New York City, Los Angeles, Dallas, Chicago and other metropolises these cities would get much bigger of course. Can New York City, Los Angles, Chicago, Atlanta and other cities each have 40 million residents and more? It would certainly need a change of the zoning laws which restrict construction today. The communities would have to permit high rises like in Manhattan, parts of Los Angeles and other metropolis. Skyscrapers  -  especially the new slim towers you can see now in Manhattan - don´t need much space. The new slim towers multiply the number of available apartments per square foot. So cities can grow vertical - and upwards is a lot space, thanks to modern technologies.

Communities, city planers and developers could learn from Singapore, which has to deal with a very limited space. The city-state created a "vertical village",  a building complex that contains 31 stacked’ residential blocks and is six stories tall. The construction includes swimming pools, tennis courts, gardens and roof terraces (independent). If the cities allow much higher buildings and construct vertical villages they would create enough free space between the towers for parks & ponds.

I am aware that these thoughts are just utopian and many prefer to live far away from big cities. But if the communities ease their zoning laws and allow more and taller high rises they would enhance the supply of flats significantly and so reduce the rents. Cheaper living and more modern buildings would make big cities more attractive and so reduce sprawl, CO2 emissions and the dependency on oil. The cities could invest the revenue gains - caused by more citizens, more business, more jobs and higher productivity - into their infrastructure, especially subways, which also would keep street noise, pollution & congestion at bay and would raise their attractiveness further.