I live on the edge of a city, which has a population of around of around 150,000, surrounded by fertile farmland to the north and a river estuary to the south (where you can still catch a sea trout or a salmon if your lucky). The city has at one point in human history had the very first railways, the first systems electrification such as public street lighting and public transportation, the worlds largest factories, the worlds longest bridge (all now of course surpassed in the last 130-150 years) and even had some notable technological firsts such as the invention of the postage stamp. Much of the finance to build the United States of America originated from these parts and had a one point the highest density of millionaires in the world (around 120-150 years ago). Yet it never materialised into a Megacity. For folks who live in modern Megacities the contrast would I suspect would be quite amusing as many folks from my city could well still be living in substantial Victorian and Georgian properties getting on for 150 years old (before electricity became widely available) where chimney pots (for burning coal) still abound everywhere. The small and narrow and winding streets were laid out for a human scale and not motorised vehicles (although the town planners had tried darnedest to fix this during the period 1960-2000)

How do you cope in a Megacity when the interconnectedness of the global economy (finance, energy requirements such as peak oil or even insurrection due to inequality between the rich and the poor) or even mass casualty catastrophic events in the future such as earthquakes or when its just all starts to decay away and begin to fall apart such as large post industrial conurbations such as Detroit?

Why don't you ask a tough question?

You move out.

Not sure if this is the answer your looking for but I think my bonafides are there.

I live in a Megacity known as the Phoenix Metropolitan Area or "Valley of the sun". Close to 4 million people. I live on the east outskirts so while my urban sprawl looks almost exactly like the urban sprawl covering the other 475 square miles, I have great egress to several routes if I have to G.O.O.D. (get out of Dodge) North or East.

Our fear here is large and small; a nuclear power plant w/ prevailing winds covering some of our valley if there was a release. We have a real issue with drug smuggling, people smuggling, violent crime and illegal aliens. We are the kidnap capital of the world. Over 600 a year. As most people move here, there is little depth to city/state pride, like say being a New Yorker or a Red Sox fan. No real feel of community. As such people from other parts of the country feel they can change the historical uniqueness of Arizona to what they had in their place, (thinking most of Californians bringing their version of social politics)

What really binds us together is suffering through hot summers.

I live on the west coast of Florida, just north of the Tampa/St Petersburg population clusters...as I live on a peninsula, my escape routes are severely limited... I have two major east/west multi lane routes available... they intersect with four major north/south routes that would be carrying the evacuees of everyone to the south of me in case of a major tropical storm....

on the other hand, living on the coast gives me a pretty good option for food sources in a non weather related problem...

bottom line is.... I don't plan on running too far...and have been working towards a 6 months store of staple goods

1. You do the best you can for as long as you can, then...
2. You leave and try to find a better place.

Unfortunately, the decay and falling apart is already in progress, but many/most people are hoping it will reverse soon, and may wait too long. Where does acceptable end and despair begin?

Sue

Speaking as an archaeologist, cities rise, they prosper, decline, and may become vacant, hollow shells - think Tikal, Cahokia, and all kinds of "Lost Cities" the world over. Usually people move away when they figure they have a better chance somewhere else. The process provides job security for us diggers....

It is well known that the decline of Detroit is not something new or recent. This city has been in an economic free fall for decades and it is now being exacerbated by the economic issues of it's own country.

As for escaping during during disaster, Getting out of any large city is next to impossible when there is a large exodus. Look what happened in Houston Texas a few years back when they tried to evac the city that was in the path of a hurricane. If I recall, the hurricane weakened and or turned away from the city. In any case, I remember seeing on the news, miles and miles of cars moving only a few feet per hour. I am sure there are some members of this forum who may of witnessed or had first hand accounts of this botched evac.

I would think that a similar mass exodus of any large city would have the same bad results...

Telsin, - Who is currently content (except for the man eating mosquitoes) to be 400 miles away from any metro area.

I'm not seeing the problem here. Could it be because I live in an area which is still growing even in a recession?

Jeanette Isabelle

I'm in Bay Area, California. High security high rise gated community with ~1000 people - army! Powerful diesel generator. Pool. 500' from fish infested bay water and piers full of yachts. 2 underground creeks are surfacing nearby (~1000'). We can definitely bug in for some time. Plan to get a yacht soon or at least a fishing boat to improve my sustainability and bug out options (roads to the mountains, ocean, rivers).

Growing and expanding cities need vast quantities of energy. Megacities (cities > 10 million population - there are only 2 in the US = New York and LA) need mega quantities of energy for industrial production (for employment prospects and the insatiable demand for fiat paper is why there is growth towards the Megacity) and to sustain the population. They also need vast quantities of fresh potable water and sewerage systems etc. And I haven't even mentioned transportation energy requirements and air pollution. The average city has approximately 3 days of food storage and requires a constant flow of this input. The flows of finance regulates this system. Megacities can only really continue to exist within a global domain as they sink the natural resource on a global scale. It could even be argued that the fall of a Megacity on one side of the planet could make the other 30 megacities fall one by one in a domino fashion as one relies on the other for its existence with a consequence for the majority of the worlds population.

Interruption of the flow of energy (electrical grid), Transportation fuels (gasolines), water and food and the typical Megacity of today would become a catastrophe within 7 days.

These interruptions could be the result of instability in the global financial system (highest probability in the short term), peak oil (highest probability in the medium term) or even a solar storm.

The wars to control the petroleum reminder of the peak oil problem started years ago and they continue a pace.

Of course the decline of the Megacity after its peak around 2030 might be quick (very very nasty), it might be managed ("If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stomping on a human face -- forever".)

There are no easy technological or scientific solutions to this issue as they have been tried before;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZ6t5JA7OBA

As for escaping a failing Megacity then I'm afraid the original ending of Bladerunner will remain a fiction as the elites security forces will instigate reverse sieges.