| > The world is full of people who aren’t realizing their potential in large part because their cities don't provide the opportunities and living conditions necessary for success. > A high leverage way to improve our world is to unleash this massive potential by making better cities. I don't think cities make it even into the top 10 reasons why people don't realize their full potential. Here's a small list, out the top of my head: Depending on were you live, corruption is probably in the top 3 reasons why "people don't realize their potential". Most people don't have the "guts" (or low moral standards) to participate in the corruption games that are required to climb the social ladder. Then there's the thing called "competition". Once a person realizes his full potential (s)he will want to stay at the top as much as possible and that includes fighting others who try to challenge their dominant position. Racism, xenophobia and other types of discrimination.
Maybe not as evident in the "western" world, but still a very powerful reason in many parts of the world. Other reasons include things like politics, poor laws and stupid fiscal policies. In general, these go hand in hand with corruption and everything else. In my view we don't need more large cities, rather I think the solution is de-centralization and de-urbanization. Many small high-tech independent "village-sized" cities, self contained and self-sufficient, interconnected with high-speed transport services is the way to go. |