…globalization and information technology are not transforming the international order to the extent suggested by all the hype. One thing that is changing, however, is this: the feasibility of solving our domestic problems by pursuing further expansion abroad is shrinking. What Niebuhr referred to as “quantitative solutions” are no longer solutions. The pursuit of more has become self-defeating—for Americans, the chief products of that pursuit are more debt, more war, and more damage to the environment. So we need to look to qualitative solutions—revising the American way of life so as to restore a sense of harmony and balance.

Idea-intensive industries have long tended to locate disproportionately in the cores of urban areas, where—as in New York—the same closeness that once moved garments onto rail cars now speeds the flow of ideas.

The intellectual advantages of proximity keep industries like advertising, publishing and finance—which offer the highest returns to those with the most information—in dense urban cores.