[eru]

Oh, there are some very simple adjustments we could make right now (without even any new technology) to get a great amount of real growth. Just open some pretty standard economics textbooks:

On the demand side: target nominal GDP to all but eliminate recessions. (Or at least target the long term growth of the price level instead of letting bygones be bygones.)

On the supply side: completely shift the tax burden from labour and capital onto land. Remove barriers to free trade. Review and simplify economic regulations---start with silly zoning laws perhaps. Lower barriers to entry in most industries. Invest in public infrastructure and education. Cut stupid spending, and the most distorting taxes.

(Land taxes can probably even yield enough to pay for a lavish social welfare system. They will definitely recoup all sane investment in public infrastructure. Without distorting the economy even one bit.)

Of course the problem is that all these reforms are politically infeasible.

There might be a technological limit to real growth, of course, but we are far from it.

[gutnor]

> start with silly zoning laws perhaps

Why not keep them and invest in remote working instead of packing even more people in major cities. You probably work most of your time with remote people anyway and tech is definitively there.

Also it is a lot easier to organise plenty of small towns (think hospital, school, road infrastructure, ...) rather than a megacity where you can have literally thousands of people per block.

[eru]

Let the people who want to be packed live in major cities. Than we have more space left over for people who prefer sparser living.

Singapore and Hong Kong seems pretty well organised. Even other big cities like New York seem to work reasonably well on an organisational level. Hospitals, schools, road infrastructure are more efficient with shorter distances and diversified over more people's demand.