Major Cities EMPTYING Out at an ALARMING RATE

Major Cities EMPTYING Out at an ALARMING RATE

Ever since cities first emerged in Neolithic times, they have been organized and have grown around their origin locations which invariably have been the places where trade and exchange first took place. In the contemporary world, certainly since the beginning of the industrial revolution, these origins are usually their commercial cores, now known in U.S. ideology as central business districts.

Cities have exploded in this fashion, growing outwards in concentric rings, which have fallen in population density as new transportation technologies have made it possible to live at greater distances from their centers. This process of decentralization, associated mainly with population movements, has been accompanied by one of concentration. Commercial activities have grown massively in central locations, with these forces competing with one another for space, but with the urban extent growing ever bigger in size.

Some cities have declined in population but in global terms, these are rather few. Growth has remained the dominating driver despite the manufacturing sector moving away from its traditional hubs, where its raw materials were based – this is the case in most industrialized nations where such operations have been altered through automation and miniaturization. In the last century, urban populations have become suburbanized, while commercial and retail activities have tended to remain, and further concentrate in the central business district. This model has been thrown into the air by the pandemic.