this post was submitted on 29 Sep 2023
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Rural areas provide food and raw materials for the cities. That's their entire purpose.
If all people lived in a city as dense as Paris, they would all starve: Paris does not have a single farm producing food.
If all people lived in a city as dense as Paris, every manufacturer would be out of business due to lack of raw materials: Paris does not have a single mine.
If rural areas are destroying the planet, it is because the cities are demanding from those areas more than the planet can provide.
It's not cities doing that, it's capitalism.
Socialist cities make the same demands on rural areas that capitalist cities do. It's primarily a function of population density, not economic model.
At best, a square mile of farmland can feed about 6000 people. That's under ideal conditions and assuming vegetarians. Want a little meat in your diet, and 2500 is a more realistic number.
A square mile of Chicago contains about 12,000 people. That's 2 to 4.8 square miles of farmland for every square mile of city. Chicago is about 230 square miles.
A square mile of New York contains about 30,000 people. That's 5 to 12 sq miles of farmland for every square mile of city. New York is about 300 square miles.
A square mile of Paris contains about 53,000 people. 8.8 to 21.2 sq miles of farmland for every square mile of city. Paris is about 40 square miles.