The West’s metropolises are in the midst of a grand renaissance. These are the knowledge hubs and global cities that have more in common with their international counterparts than with their national hinterlands. Anyone who doubted this was disabused in 2016. Almost two-thirds of London voted to stay in the European Union. The rest of England and Wales disagreed. In spite of being home to fewer than one in seven people in Britain, London accounts for almost a third of its gross domestic product. Similarly, every single one of America’s 493 wealthiest counties, almost all of them urban, voted
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