Are cities obsolete?

Question

Think about it:
They came about to shorten ways of doing business. Essentially. And because it was easier to defend a cluster than dispersed settlements. Which brought about culture, etc.

Today, one can do business everywhere and get information from everywhere. Making complete decentralization feasible.
Moreover, defense of individual settlements is no longer an issue.
On the other hand, cities cause a large number of problems, including crime and pollution. Plus, they make big, fat targets for terrorists (not the case if the population is more dispersed).

Thoughts?

I guess if you disagree, you would have to show what makes cities still uniquely valuable.

This is a distribution problem.

Answer 1

Cities are not what cause the problems, it's the lack of morality in people that cause most of those problems. I'm sure you've heard the saying, guns don't kill people, people kill people. The same idea applies here. Also I believe cities/towns/communities are a way for people to stay close and connected to each other on a sentimental level, not just economically.