Most cities exist because they exist, the conditions justifying them having come and gone. Were they settled more recently theyd be small cities or no cities at all, perhaps transportation interchanges with some support facilities and a bar. As it is, we have poverty industry settling tanks—East St. Louis, Detroit, Chicago, Trenton, Newark, Camden, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Baltimore, New York City, Gary, Cleveland, Flint and Buffalo come to mind—tumors nourished by unwilling outsiders, accidental museums, crumbling and moldering menaces, hollowed out vestiges awaiting the final implosion into whatever self-sustaining core may endure. When the crisis arrives theyll cave not merely because theyre dependent on intravenous feeding, all cities are, but because they do so little anyone else is willing to pay for. The productive were driven out long ago, onerous penalties and professional jeerleaders keep them away. As for the resident underclass, watching them try to form a coherent thought tells us all we need to know about their viability. This is why cities will collapse with blinding speed, theyre almost entirely overburden with nearly nothing native to support it. We can safely think of them as pre-collapsed.
Posted on: Tue, 24 Jun 2014 15:30:56 +0000
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