How Cities Survive

"America's pre-eminent city owes its position to historical accident. The natural advantages of New York - its fine harbor...were real enough during the city's rise. But those natural advantages have long since ceased to be important to the city's economy. What keeps New York a great city is circular causation; people and businesses locate there because of the opportunities created by the presence of other people and businesses...a sufficiently large blow to that economy could in theory do permanent damage. If enough businesses and people leave, for whatever reason, the local economy could...enter a downward spiral in which businesses leave because other businesses are leaving...businesses would move out into the endless sprawl."

Thanks to Abhijeet Chavan