Cities benefit from two key conditions,both with direct implications for social, cultural, andeconomic integration. One is a large middle class and alarge sector of modest profit-making firms, distinct from asharp concentration of incomes and profits. The other is awell-distributed urban economy: robust neighborhood subeconomies preventing excessive economic concentration in thecenter, and good transportation for people and goods- notonly to the center but also transversally. The urban economyis marked by capture at the top, poorer middle classes,larger destitute populations, and more crime and conflict.These challenges, though present in cities the world over,play out differently in smaller, prosperous cities in Europeand North America than in megacities in Asia, Africa, andLatin America. But cities today are also seeing a massiveupgrading of infrastructure in city centers and high valueneighborhoods. One outcome is widespread homelessness anddestitution, even in cities where these problems had becomerare by the mid- to late 20th century. The reasons for thisjuxtaposition vary enormously due to the differences amongcities and among the national economies and societies inwhich they function. Some cities are sinking under theweight of the negatives, while others are, more recently,succeeding. The major challenges that confront cities andsociety in general have increasingly strong feedback loopsthat disassemble the old civic urban order. Fighting climatechange may well force citizens and immigrants to worktogether, regardless of religion, culture, or phenotype.
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