Whatever Happened to the “Magnet Cities?”

COVID19 has opened our eyes to a new possibility.  Give people a choice of where to live – one that does not depend on where they make their living – and they vote with their feet for lower density, more green space and, most of all, for affordable costs. It has become clear that the celebrated “magnet cities” are threatened by their own success.  They are dangerously overcrowded.  They are vastly over-priced for all but the most over-paid.  That’s why San Francisco and Manhattan have only half the number of children per household as the US metropolitan average, while suburbs and exurbs have over one-third more.  Without kids, a community stagnates, even if it you can’t see it now. The Intelligent Community Forum has been predicting for some time that the future belongs to small-to-midsize places with the broadband assets to fully participate in the global economy.  The internet is a distributed platform that offers equal access to those who can afford it regardless of location – as long as your location has good broadband. The unexpected gift of COVID19 is to show that this future possibility is real.  It is not where you live that determines your economic destiny.  It is how well connected you are and whether you have the education and skills to make the most of it.  Those are the issues that deserve our full attention as we recover from the first global plague of the 21^st Century.

[Robert Bell is co-founder of the Intelligent Community Forum, a global network of cities and regions with a think tank at its center. Its mission is to help communities in the digital age find a new path to economic development and community growth – one that creates inclusive prosperity, tackles social challenges, and enriches quality of life.]