Are Cities The New Countries?

Now that a rising number of global cities have populations greater than a number of European countries have, the BBC asks whether the nation state is under threat from the rise of the super-city.

Economically, many of the world’s great cities are already divorced from their nation-states, with their main streams of investment come from other great cities.

“The most important place to London is New York and to New York is London and Tokyo,” [Sociologist Professor] Sennett says. “London belongs to a country composed of itself and New York.”

Last week, London’s mayor, Ken Livingstone reacted to new powers granted to him with a joke, “Having been to Singapore and seen how successful it was I think anything short of a fully independent city state is a lost opportunity, with its own foreign and defence policies thrown in.”

BBC NEWS

[via Archinect]