An insightful analysis but one that omits many of the deeper structural drivers behind problems that cities now face
A different dynamic is unfolding in the majority world. Due to rapid urbanisation, cities in developing countries today account for most of the world’s urban-dwelling population. Most poor countries, however, have been urbanising much faster than their economies have been growing. This urbanisation in the absence of development has resulted in mass slums, endemic poverty and appalling living conditions for many.
The analysis in Age of the City is informative and insightful, but it omits many of the deeper structural drivers behind the alarming problems that cities now face.
The book is somewhat dated too in its use of terms such as “high skilled knowledge workers” versus “low skilled service workers”. The pandemic has shown that many so-called low-skilled workers are essential to society in ways that highly paid knowledge workers are simply not.
The book’s thesis that the city is where the battles of inequality, social division, pandemics, and climate change must be faced belies the reality that reforming our cities may not be possible without deep global structural reforms. Reinventing our cities as places of equality and centres of care, learning, creativity, and human flourishing will require a focus on society, not just the economy, and an inversion of values that the authors do not consider.
Ian Hughes is a Senior Research Fellow at the MaREI Centre, Environmental Research Institute at University College Cork.
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