China Pwns Joo: A New Series

In my mind, it’s difficult to suggest that the US ought to build Eco-Cities. Let me draw a parallel. Many developing countries will have nationwide cell phone service rather than wire all households for telephone service. That’s a GREAT idea … why doesn’t the US do it? Well, the answer is clear. The US has a great deal of wired infrastructure in place. Market forces will determine when (and if) everyone will switch to wireless. Perhaps (probably) it will happen one day, but a near-term solution for a developing country is not necessarily a near-term solution for the US.

China is building these Eco-Cities. Why doesn’t the US? Well, China is an evolving country. The proportion of their citizens who farm is decreasing and will continue to decrease. Those displaced will need new opportunities. Those opportunities are unlikely to be found in rural China, so it makes sense that they would want to move to cities. Existing cities are crowded … so they could expand … OR … they could build NEW cities from the ground up. Those new cities could be make environmentally friendly, etc. A fine idea. But the United States DOES NOT NEED ANY NEW CITIES. So, we don’t need to build them Eco-cities or not. What we CAN do is make a commitment to make our existing cities more environmentally friendly.

PS I’ve recently started reading “The World is Flat” (thanks Daniel). It’s a must-read! Surprisingly, there does not seem to be any mention of the Flat Earth Society. ;)

… forgot to mention one other thing …

The US does not have the power to dictate where its citizens live … so if a new city was built (by the government), there’s no assurance that people would move there in sufficient numbers to make it worth the cost.

Of course, there have been MANY examples through the years of COMPANIES settling somewhere and (more or less) building a city to support the company. In our free enterprise system, this would be a more likely way that an eco-friendly city MIGHT spring up.

Agreed on all points. I didn’t literally mean to suggest that we should start building new cities the way China is; as you point out, we have plenty.

My point was more along the lines of our lack of overall innovation. Even if we were building new cities right now, I can virtually guarantee you the plans for them wouldn’t be nearly as ambitious as those of the Chinese.

Ultimately (and this is a theme you’re going to see a lot from me in the future), our leaders aren’t looking out for the U.S.. They’re not treating us as if we’re a Fortune 10 company trying to get ahead. Instead, they’re acting more like a state government organization with a guaranteed position in the future.

Oh, and I’m glad you’re enjoying the book. ;)