State & Local Government Policy, Business and Technology

Smart Cities Are Great. Human-centric Cities Are (Again) the Future

Route Fifty: You’d be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn’t believe cities are one of our economy’s major arteries—maybe even its heart. To be specific, cities generate more than 80% of the world’s gross domestic products.

And though urbanization can certainly spur sustainable growth by upping productivity (allowing innovation to flourish), the scale and speed that requires present challenges: meeting higher demands for affordable housing; establishing efficient, well-connected transportation systems; and creating other infrastructure, services, and jobs, especially so the 1 billion impoverished city dwellers who live in settlements can be closer to opportunities for work, leisure, and education.

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