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CITISTATE |
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''Definition: A region consisting of one or more historic central cities surrounded by cities and towns which have a shared identification, function as a single zone for trade, commerce and communication, and are characterized by social, economic and environmental interdependence. |
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Hist. Similar to city states of antiquity (e.g. Athens, Rome, Carthage) or medieval times (e.g. the Hanseatic League), except that modern citistates engage in instant electronic communication and capital transfer, and are the chief recipients of world population growth.'' |
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The new spelling/definition – “citistate” – was coined by writers Neal Peirce and Curtis Johnson in the 1990s, following the end of the Cold War. The age of mega-nationalism was melting,. Population was shifting to metropolitan centers worldwide, with the most dramatic acceleration in the developing world. Military clashes – while serious threats to prosperity and civility – seemed confined to groups of nation states, short of the scope of World War I, World War II, or the Cold war. Economics, not raw military power, became the new coin of the realm, globalized economies spread with speeded communications citistate-to-citistate, and trade barriers began a still slow but ineluctable slide into irrelevance. |
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At the same time technology was transforming developed economies, globalizing virtually every significant market. Communications and money moved instantly around the globe. Impelled at Internet-speed, markets were born, matured, and withered rapidly, largely ignoring national borders. The new international economy focused on the major metropolitan regions. |
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The phrases “metropolitan area,” or “metroplex” seemed insufficiently descriptive for the new era. The European use of “conurbation” likewise seemed a dreary, derivative name for what has become a powerful organizing principle of the new global century. Hence the logic of “citistate,” symbolizing a form driven by organic forces and defined by fundamental changes in the political economy. In short, the contemporary citistate is what the economy does. Its geography is variable and elastic: the real-world reach of any area’s markets for newspapers, broadcast signals, employment commuting patterns, patronage of cultural and educational centers, the reach of health care services. |
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The actual citistate mocks the maps of myriad political jurisdictions. It is best seen in the lights of night through the lens of a satellite’s camera. |
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By Neal Peirce and Curtis Johnson, principals of the Citistates Group - www.citistates.com |
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Suggestions for improving the definition are welcome. |
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Latest revision as of 19:45, 5 June 2007
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