We cannot let our cities descend into islands of privilege amid seas of disadvantage. With the right policies and investments, a better future is possible
Cities are now home to more than half of the global population, a share that will rise to two-thirds by 2050. That means the forces shaping life in cities now also shape our world as a whole. Cities throughout history have been the great incubators of human progress, through their power to bring us closer together – something we need now more than ever. Many of the answers to our greatest challenges are to be found in reforming our cities, but if we fail to take action, cities will magnify the perils that lie ahead.
The populist politics of recent years has been tinged with resentment against global metropolises such as London and New York. These cities have boomed while others have struggled. But while the gulf between thriving cities and everywhere else has widened, so too has the disparity within these cities. Inequality has risen in most metropolitan areas in the US since 1980, but it has risen fastest in large, thriving cities such as New York, San Francisco and Chicago, where it is now much higher than the national average. Wages for high-skilled knowledge workers in these places have soared, but pay for the low-skilled service workers supporting them has languished, a gulf that is compounded by the rapidly rising cost of living in these cities.
