By Parag Khanna
Most people in the world have probably seen the famous photograph of the Earth taken from the Apollo 17 mission on December 7, 1972. Spanning a swath of the globe from the Mediterranean Sea to the southern polar ice cap, the image features lovely white cloud swirls over the grand African continental massif. Much has changed since that photo was snapped. NASA satellite images of the Earth today show a vast increase in the clusters and chains of bright dots that represent cities and their night-time lights. In forty years, a new constellation of cities has emerged.
The thing to notice is that the dots of light cascade across the Earth’s surface without any reference to national borders. That’s a good image for the global order now emerging. The 21st century will not be dominated by America or China, Brazil or India, but by The City. In a world that increasingly appears ungovernable, cities—not states—are the islands of governance on which the future world order will be built. Cities are humanity’s real building blocks because of their economic size, population density, political dominance, and innovative edge. They are real “facts on the ground,” almost immeasurably more meaningful to most people in the world than often invisible national borders.
In this century, it will be the city—not the state—that becomes the nexus of economic and political power. Already, the world’s most important cities generate their own wealth and shape national politics as much as the reverse. The rise of global hubs in Asia is a much more important factor in the rebalancing of global power between West and East than the growth of Asian military power, which has been much slower. In terms of economic might, consider that just forty city-regions are responsible for over two-thirds of the total world economy and most of its innovation. To fuel further growth, an estimated $53 trillion will be invested in urban infrastructure in the coming two decades.
How big can cities get? In terms of political and economic might, we are just beginning to find out. READ MORE >>
