Though slums as appalling as Victorian London's are now widespread, and the Victorian fear of cities lives on, cancer no longer seems the right metaphor. On the contrary: With Earth's population headed toward nine or ten billion, dense cities are looking more like a cure.
mk: I live in a vibrant college town, and work in the guts of a crippled city.Detroit had 2.1 million people in the 50's. It was the wealthiest city in the US. Now there are less than 800k people and it's one of the poorest. It's biblical.