How Cities Survive

How resistent are cities? Can a city's economy survive a severe blow such as the September 11th attacks on New York?

1 minute read

October 4, 2001, 11:00 AM PDT

By Abhijeet Chavan @http://twitter.com/legalaidtech

"America's pre-eminent city owes its position to historical accident. The natural advantages of New York - its fine harbor...were real enough during the city's rise. But those natural advantages have long since ceased to be important to the city's economy. What keeps New York a great city is circular causation; people and businesses locate there because of the opportunities created by the presence of other people and businesses...a sufficiently large blow to that economy could in theory do permanent damage. If enough businesses and people leave, for whatever reason, the local economy could...enter a downward spiral in which businesses leave because other businesses are leaving...businesses would move out into the endless sprawl."

Thanks to Abhijeet Chavan

FULL STORY: An Injured City

Wednesday, October 3, 2001 in The New York Times

Community / Economic Development New York

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