Cities And Their Future In America Essay Examples

Most of the world's population lives in cities. 80% of well-being, 95% of innovations, almost all universities and research institutes, as well as most of the cultural content fall on a city. Some people argue that cities already rule the world. However, from the political perspective, America is still ruled by the old national state. Apparently, there is an urgent need for change. Benjamin Barber offers a realistic option for the development of the dysfunctional political systems. During his TED talk “Why mayors should rule the world”, he demonstrated how decentralized local governments can be more flexible than the federal.
Urban economy is constantly expanding its scale, as cities become targets of macroeconomic regulation. Every city should possess operational independence and economic isolation. In the current socio-economic system a city acts as an important structural component, largely, if not critically, identify trends and specific characteristics of a particular region or country. Any city is, on the one hand, a reflection of the socio-economic structure of society and the level of development of its productive forces and production relations. On the other hand, it has a significant impact on these structures and relationships. In the globalized world, cities are increasingly becoming objects of macroeconomic regulation. Undoubtedly, a city is a home, whereas the state government is no more than an abstraction. Citizens pay taxes, while the elected government rule people without their involvement. Being pragmatic, mayors are willing to solve problems. The need for restructuring cities is driven by imbalances in the industrial, technological, economic dimensions along with the current institutional structure. Jennifer Pahlka points out that policy of socio-economic development of cities along with its strategic objectives are promising tools for influence of local governments on key processes of the local community.
There is a pressing need for the development of local modern forms and methods of proactive city management in response to the increasing speed of changes taking place in the external environment.