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Deleted member 15887
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Greater Tokyo has 40 million people, about 1/3 of Japan's entire population. It's not unreasonable for the Shanghai metropolitan region to have ~50-60 million people (), as long as population density is managed. What makes bigger cities more productive are agglomeration effects (agglomeration of industries creates immense economies of scale, agglomeration of talent and labor can encourage innovation, plus bigger cities are just more environmentally friendly per capita).Is the idea to grow cities like Shanghai Beijing, Shengzhen, Guangdong past 20 million people, reaching 30 million? While I agree that bigger is usually better, the returns to personal GDP probably decline once cities are in the +20 million, which is why even rich cities like New York, LA, Tokyo, and Seoul are about the same size. I think its more worthwhile to make sure most of the provincial capitals are in the ~10 million range, where basically any service can now be provided to citizens due to large enough of a city market (think specialized leisure like amusement parks, indoor skydiving, race tracks, multiple sport teams)
Glad to see the central government recognizing the flaws behind their strict population control for the biggest cities.