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Pretty amazing chart showing that we basically went from nobody living in cities to mass migration to cities all over the world in a couple hundred years.
Globally, just under half of the world’s population already lives in cities today.
Will this trend reverse moving forward? Will people find new reasons to leave cities behind and return to the country? If so, what might be the catalysts that cause this shift?
Yes, the trend will reverse37.0%
No, the trend will not reverse63.0%
46 votes \ poll ended
It will reverse when the bombs drop
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1279 sats \ 2 replies \ @dk 8 Jan
I agree with the trend up to 2000, but keeping the date range all the way back to 10,000 BCE gives a very skewed/hard-to-interpret perspective, imo. I'd prefer to see more recent history (e.g. the last ~500 years)
I'm also very curious about what has happened since the internet/broadband/mobile went mainstream (not captured by this chart which ends in 2000. And specifically if/how Covid had an impact starting in 2020.
I think the most sensitive variable in predicting this trend well will be how successful/mainstream Apple Vision Pro and the like competitors are.
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21 sats \ 1 reply \ @kr OP 9 Jan
good point, didn’t even realize the chart stopped at 2000 and a fine-grain version of this chart with recent data might look quite different.
what are your initial thoughts on how successful Apple Vision Pro will be? are you going to get one?
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172 sats \ 0 replies \ @dk 9 Jan
I haven't ordered one yet, but I suspect there will be some extremely compelling use-cases. If you think of it as something like an alternative to a Mac with huge/portable built in monitors you get a very different idea about how it might be used.
Ben Thompson's blog originally turned me on to that idea and I find it convincing. Great article to consider if you're still formulating your beliefs: https://stratechery.com/2023/apple-vision/
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1106 sats \ 0 replies \ @OT 8 Jan
I'd like to see a chart of about 100 years. Post covid in particular
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1108 sats \ 0 replies \ @rhombus 9 Jan
Most people just don't understand how much more pleasant life is outside of a city. Much cheaper too. Overall, just a better quality of life. Maybe it's not for everyone, I get it, but if you are able to consider such a move (even temporarily to try) it's highly recommended.
Also, not all country sides or small towns are created equal. Do your research and I'm sure you'll enjoy what you find.
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824 sats \ 2 replies \ @k00b 8 Jan
The trend will reverse if/when:
  • the wealth gap closes
    • I can imagine people spreading out more when they aren't all chasing after rich people's money (which tends to demand you live in urban areas)
  • remote work competes with in-person
    • SN is de facto remote but there are tradeoffs. Non-correlated inputs are more common when your life collides with other's lives.
  • remote friendship competes with in-person
    • traveling for friendship ain't so bad, but I spend a fraction of the time with remote friends relative to in-person
    • if you're into weird stuff (ie have a minority interest of some kind), being in an urban area increases the likelihood you'll find someone else into the same weird stuff
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778 sats \ 1 reply \ @kr OP 8 Jan
good points, i think dating is also an extension of friendship here.
that’s one aspect of city life that seems nearly impossible to replicate in the country.
Hard for me to imagine many young people moving out of cities unless AR/VR get really really good (along with many of the other things mentioned in this thread).
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520 sats \ 0 replies \ @k00b 8 Jan
For sure dating is huge, but dating is on decline (as is friendship) afaik so it's probably not driving urbanization much.
I'd guess urbanization correlates with the centralization of wealth or industry better than most things.
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683 sats \ 3 replies \ @kepford 8 Jan
I suspect it will level out but I doubt it will reverse. What is more interesting to me is thinking about new cities vs growth of massive cities. I think cities start to have serious issues once they reach a certain population and one solution is to have more smaller cities vs. the current number of urban cities.
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62 sats \ 1 reply \ @kr OP 8 Jan
agree. and one interesting thing about cities (compared to companies or people) is that cities basically never die.
they go through evolutions but it’s incredibly rare for everyone all at once to abandon a city and start from scratch.
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Yep. I wonder why that is.... lol.
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10 sats \ 0 replies \ @OgFOMK 8 Jan
Cities can have purchasing power. Unfortunately it's fiat. So the M2 money supply matches this graph. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/M2SL
What is very interesting to me is that there is exactly the same amount of "money" that there always has been. Bitcoin just happens to be the most accessible and ungovernable ledger. It has governance but not government. Maybe a bit of mentle as this device is in the minds of us and other users. For us the balance is the medium.
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major cities have naturally grown surrounding areas with high economic energy (ie coastal areas with ports for trade), and until bitcoin, that economic energy was more geographically dependent.
Now that we can generate higher economic activity in relatively uninhabited places where bitcoin mining can take place, i imagine larger communities/cities will rise up around those bitcoin hotspots. Hard to tell how large of an economic boom a bitcoin mining operation in the jungle could cause, but i imagine it will surprise all of us.
maybe i have this all wrong i am not sure
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I think it will eventually reach something of an equilibrium. Maybe 80% cities 20% rural? Regardless, I don't think it will end up reversing. Too much economically valuable going on in cities for most people to resist
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If we're maintaining a consistent definition of "urbanization" over the whole time frame, then more and more people will live in urban areas as population continues to rise.
The trend in the US is moving to mid-size metropolitan areas from both large metros and rural communities. The net effect is greater urbanization.
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486 sats \ 0 replies \ @0fje0 8 Jan
Difficult to imagine it reversing.
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112 sats \ 1 reply \ @kr OP 8 Jan
One big pain of living in the country today is that you still need lots of physical infrastructure like sewage, internet, electricity, water, etc…
There are lots of new ideas taking stabs at making these services easy to install anywhere (Starlink is the most successful example), but as long as one piece of infrastructure isn’t available it can totally derail the build of a country home.
A related question is how long will it be before we have off-grid homes that don’t have to sacrifice on any of the first-world comforts most city dwellers have come to enjoy?
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @gmd 9 Jan
It's nice to have great restaurants to choose from...
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In my opinion people will return to villages and small agro communities once permaculture goes viral 🌱 for this, like bitcoin, I think that its success depends on implementing it in Africa, will being an example for the rest of the countries 🌎
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40 sats \ 1 reply \ @kr OP 8 Jan
what will it take for permaculture to “go viral”? what makes Africa’s success with permaculture so important to its viability?
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Thanks for commenting, I mean permaculture will go viral when it is massively adopted by farmers and ranchers. As for Africa, bitcoin is a real need, as well as permaculture, it is the ideal place to expand both revolutions worldwide
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Cities are shitcoins.
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155 sats \ 0 replies \ @brave 9 Jan
When I have made a good amount of money starting in the city, I will retire to an rural area where I can leisurely enjoy myself and help build the community
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So Tenochtitlan was not an urbanized area?
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I honestly think Zoom was the tipping point. During the plandemic when everyone was scared the cities were not a good place to be and everyone instictually knew that. Then came Zoom and suddenly schools, workplaces, and everything else we gathered for could be done remotely.
Urban real estate started dropping off LIKE CRAZY. I don't have the stats but it wasn't just down a tick, it was like 50% off in places like Manhattan. Sure, it's recovered a bit but what a solid entry that was.
So the trend has already started reversing; most of us can work from absolutely anywhere, even as a team member. It's obviously never going to even out completely but those who prefer city life can all live in cities while those who prefer life on mountaintops or beach front can live there as well, despite our jobs.
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I think Japan which is facing an alarming drop in population is advocating that its citizens move back to rural areas. Some rural towns and cities have tried to jazz up their image as well as monetary incentives; they have been successful to varying degrees of success.
But on the whole, I think the trend of rural-urban migration is set to increase because the cosmopolitan cities are where all the opportunities are. I watched a video about how Seoul is akin to a black hole because it sucks up all the major resources in the country, creating an overly heavy reliance on its services. People don’t necessarily like Seoul cos of its high cost of living but they feel that they have no choice but to move
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Things should revert to the mean, but I don't see it happening anytime soon, people come to cities for the opportunity, they stuck in the city due to the property they own and pay off.
They enjoy a certain lifestyle and network effect of education, jobs, transport, finance, and highly dense community and it can be great until it's not, eventually, you reach a point where you oversaturate one place and it begins to decay, homelessness increases and so does crime
I think it reverses in different places for different reasons, some will be due to city decay, some will be new towns/cities starting up offering incentives to move, unlocking of new resources creating new opportunities, people wanting a better deal for their money in terms of property cost, service delivery and influence on a local level
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Not a single argument here.
Just people guessing blindly and something something "internet" something something "vibes" 😂😂
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I seriously doubt it where because in the cities is where the most opportunities lie
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I don’t think it will reverse. The county lacks the goods and services that come when you surround yourself with more people. The only way I can see the trend reversing is out of necessity for needs like food and water. Other than that people like the convenience that comes with cites.
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Looks Similar to the M2 money supply: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/M2SL
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