Is it true that the nature of geopolitical competition is evolving from disputin territories to disputing interconnectivity?
Is this expressed in the competition for global supply chains, energy markets, industrial production and financial flows, technology, knowledge and talent?
Undoubtedly, the proliferation and development of global megacities is altering – sometimes challenging, sometimes complementing – the power of countries.
These new central spaces, driven by globalization, are increasingly influential in the world economy and in decision-making, as well as in terms of industrial production and technology development.
In a future much closer than distant, countries, as a political entities, will have to redefine their power from the interaction with these new global actors, which also promise to change the roots of multinational companies and international organizations evaluations.
Per capita, city dwellers care much more about the planet, explains David Owen in his book Green Metropolis.
“Their roads, anchors, electric cables are shorter and therefore use fewer resources. Departments need less energy to heat, cool or shine than houses. People in big cities drive less and therefore, pollute less. ”
And he’s right: for example, in New York, the use of energy and carbon emissions per inhabitant are much lower than the national average. This does not mean that urban life is idyllic, but investing in its rational, efficient and respectful development of the environment can be a tremendously satisfactory bet for the future of humanity.
Cities are probably one of the actors that have the most to contribute to the consolidation of global governance.
