Cities are good

The Undercover Economist explains. A snippet,

Many people wrongly think that our desire to gather in big cities comes with a big social cost. William Cobbett compared London, the “Great Wen”, to a seeping sore. Some of my rural friends think he was on target.

The irony is that cities are good for the planet. Recent headlines excoriating London for its poor record on recycling omitted the detail that Londoners produce less household waste than people elsewhere in the UK. Londoners have fewer cars. New York is much the same in this regard. Public transport may or may not work well in cities, but will never work in the countryside. And brute economic necessity keeps city dwellers in smaller, greener homes.