Monday, December 12, 2011

Quotes about cities

There’s no such thing as a poor urbanized country; there’s no such thing as a rich rural country.
—Edward Glaeser quoted by Robert Kunzig.  “A City Solution.”  National Geographic.  December, 2011.

Spillover works best face-to-face.  No technology yet invented—not the telephone, the Internet, or videoconferencing—delivers the fertile chance encounters that cities have delivered since the Roman Forum was new.  Nor do they deliver nonverbal, contextual cues that help us convey complex ideas—to see from the glassy eyes of our listeners, for instance, that we’re talking too fast.
—Robert Kunzig.  “A City Solution.”  National Geographic.  December, 2011.