City: Exponential Battles.
Introduction
With the increase in the number of N inhabitants in the cities we have an exponential (non-linear), growth of their problems, as well as exponentially increase of the positive possibilities for the people that inhabit it, and that makes a fact that every day live more people in the cities in the world.
But we also have that with the increase in the number of inhabitants there is an exponential reduction of available time, N(t), so that society can achieve solutions to these challenges, as well as the effect of new exponential technologies which are producing all over the world. They can contribute to solving these problems or, in turn, to deepen their negative impacts; if they just let you get to your city without proper preparation.
The welfare or deterioration of a city is the result of a constant struggle between exponential trends dependent on N and N(t).
Potential and real innovation capacity of a city
The number of inhabitants N of a city also determines the maximum potential of innovation of that society, but not the current level that it obtains in each moment, that undoubtedly depends on the size of the active network of its innovation ecosystem (Ni) and other factors is not now to be expanded. The objective is to maximize that network and these factors also in network, in order to obtain the feasible upper limit dependent of N (Ni <= N).
Borders of a city
However, how to know with certainty how far a city and how many inhabitants N are included in that calculation, is not answered in a simple way with the previous political divisions of each territory, which respond more to historical particularities (their municipalities).
The ranges in the average home-work-household switching time of the citizens are approximately constant (Constant of the Marchetti), and this is what seems to determine the "real" size of cities and mega-regions. Let's look at this as it may relate to the US case by studying Garrett Dash Nelson's "An Economic Geography of the United States: From Commutes to Megaregions" and Alasdair Rae:
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0166083
Meta-Cities of innovation
All this in turn has an impact on another concept that i have introduced and which call Meta-Cities of Innovation: Broad Cities, linking their ecosystems of innovation (which may be adjoining cities, remote or totally remote).
Meta-cities of innovation are those that "coompeting " (cooperate and compete) and increase the total number NiT = Ni1 + Ni2 of citizens that are integrated in network to generate innovations, without increasing in that same amount the size of the problems that generate, precisely with that number of citizens who are "summed up", since they are not physically integrated, as when they coexist exactly in the same geographical area. This scheme also reduces the natural "inbreeding" of knowledge of any region in the world.
AMVA-Ruta n
At the end of 2016 we reached a macro agreement between the Authority of the Metropolitan Area of the Valley of Aburra: AMVA and Route n to replicate in other municipalities the capacities of Medellin in innovation and connect them to our scheme of meta cities of innovation, also integrate in systems that can solve the most important challenges of that region, including the schemes we are working together with FTI https://www.fastrackinstitute.org/. The priorities are mobility, the quality of air- environmental problem, and waste treatment (water and solids).
Cities and growth
We have found that the positive socio-economic benefits of cities are maximized in certain ranges of territorial areas defined by those commuting times and in turn have an impact on the establishment of the "real" boundaries of each city.
In the Datlas of economic development of Colombia you can consult this topic specifically applied to our current conditions and specifically to the cases of Medellin and Rionegro:
https://datlascolombia.com/#/about/project-description? Locale=en-col.
They in their work are not strictly guided by the criteria of "conurbation" and are based on this work of Gilles Duranton of the University of Pennsylvania, that is worth studying:
https://real.wharton.upenn.edu/~duranton/Duranton_Papers/Current_Research/MSA_Colombia.pdf
The Effect of the Mobility System
We have learned in Medellin; and not without the absence of much pain, that a single and efficient mass transportation system should not be achieved only for direct productivity issues, but as a way to obtain a single city. That every citizen has the same right and privilege regardless of their location, socio-economic situation or any other factor. It is not only a moral obligation, it is an engine of equity and an imperative for your survival as a city.
A direct consequence of these analyzes is that a large city; no matter the number of inhabitants: thousands or millions, or its territory: large or small its area of land, when it does not have a proper mass transport system or it is nonexistent, it will possibly have commuting times such that they actually coexist in the "same city" overlapping "several different cities". They will connect problems that grow exponentially with the number of inhabitants (delinquency, contagious diseases, pollution mobility congestions and others), but will not enjoy the beneficial exponential effects of their total economic aggregate to combat them, since they will be much smaller because they increase with reference to a minor “n” of each "sub-city" that is derived from those times of commutation enunciated by the Constant of Marchetti. n1 + n2 + n3 + ... + nj = N
It will be a big city to spread exponentially the problems, but it generates only small economic benefits in its small discontented internal "settlements". What about its fragmented capacity for all citizens to create networks of innovation, innovate, co-create and implement solutions to their problems.
We all know intuitively that a town of 50,000 people does not produce the benefits of a city of 5 million inhabitants (educational possibilities, salary levels, training possibilities, health options, etc., etc.). Maybe that's why today you live in a city and not one of those small towns, the way we do almost 8 out of 10 people in the world ("the triumph of the city").
Recalling that this is not a linear relationship at all, one can appreciate the dramatic effect of having many "sub-cities" disconnected within a "single" city as a result of poor mobility. The exponential problems will devour you and every day that happens you do not act, the exponential of time will leave you with less possible space of action, since it will not have stopped exponentially growing the network and the size of those problems.
Exponential impact in other city challenges.
In similar ways other major challenges like citizen’s security, public health system, employment rate and economic growth have the similar exponential implications, but the mobility systems and real border of the city is another critical factor.