Simplifying Complexity

Scaling 3: Why companies die, but cities don't

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Mar 6, 2023
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INSIGHT

Cities Improve Lifespan

  • Urbanization has greatly improved human lifespan through collective infrastructure and hygiene.
  • Cities enable cooperation that vastly raises living standards but also concentrate problems like poverty and crime.
INSIGHT

Universal City Scaling Laws

  • Cities show universal scaling laws in infrastructure and socioeconomic characteristics globally.
  • Infrastructure scales sublinearly (0.85), socioeconomic metrics scale superlinearly (1.15).
INSIGHT

Superlinear Socioeconomic Growth

  • Bigger cities have higher per capita productivity and also more social issues like crime and disease.
  • Socioeconomic metrics grow superlinearly (~1.15), unlike sublinear infrastructure costs.
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