Is there a limit to how big a city can manageably be?
Writing at McKinsey and Company's What Matters site, Richard Dobbs and Jaana Remes suggest that cities have precious little to stop them from growing bigger than ever before -- except the governments that run them.
According to research from the McKinsey Global Institute, there is no limiting factor -- in technology or infrastructure -- to how big or fast a city can grow.
The wild card: whether government officials and business leaders can manage that increased complexity.
The authors write:
We are now seeing cases where the growth rates of some large cities have begun to slow. In addition, the increased complexity of large size can overwhelm the ability to manage. When this happens, cities can become disastrous mixtures of slums and gridlock, raising the question of whether there is a maximum size for a workable city.
The authors follow by outlining a few key points about the coming era of megacities:
But city governments are "simply not prepared" to cope with this population boom, threatening to erode the benefits of urban economies of scale before they begin.
So what's to be done?
The authors suggest that cities focus on infrastructure, planning and jobs, outlining four principles for effective city management:
The authors take steps to caution that megacities actually won't represent the majority of urban growth in the next two decades -- it will come from their smaller counterparts. But it's obviously wise to start thinking about the next stage of growth before it happens.
What’s the biggest limit on city growth? (Hint: it's not steel or cement) [What Matters]
Illustration: Evergreen State College
[via Planetizen]
This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com