Great Cities
One of the OGs of Bear circulated a question that got me thinking about time travel. What have been examples of great cities? Why did they achieve greatness? How did they contribute to the world?
Here’s my list of globally dominant cities:
| City | Period | Problem | Contribution | Key Figures |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Athens | 450–400 BC | How should humans think? | Philosophy, democracy, reason | Pericles, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Thucydides |
| Rome | 50–200 AD | How do you govern vast societies? | Law, engineering, administration, empire | Augustus, Trajan, Hadrian, Cicero, Marcus Aurelius |
| Venice | 1200–1400 | How do continents trade? | Maritime commerce, banking, insurance, logistics | Marco Polo, Enrico Dandolo, Francesco Foscari, Aldus Manutius |
| Florence | 1450–1500 | How do wealth and creativity reinforce one another? | Renaissance, banking, patronage, art, sound currency (Florin) | Lorenzo de' Medici, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Machiavelli |
| Amsterdam | 1600–1700 | How do you mobilize capital? | Modern finance, joint-stock corporations, global trade | Rembrandt, Vermeer, Spinoza |
| London | 1750–1900 | How do you harness machines? | Industrial Revolution, global finance, science | James Watt, Adam Smith, Charles Darwin |
| New York City | 1900–Present | How do you allocate global capital and information? | Global finance, media, innovation, entrepreneurship | J. P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie |
Why the big gap after Rome? It's a descent into dictatorship. Collapse. The Dark Ages.
My Criteria for the Next Great City:
Greatness list factors
- Cheap and abundant energy
- Global access
- Personal freedom
- Reasonable cost of living
- Excellent infrastructure
Energy is the key input. Every important new technology requires large amounts of energy. AI, Hyperscalers, Data Centers, transportation, manufacturing, and Bitcoin.
Openness, accessibility, and personal freedom. The next dominant city must provide affordable living. Young people and workers must be able to afford to live in or near it.
I considered cities in Asia, Europe, and North America. Singapore has interesting qualities, but it is too small. China has a couple of cities that are global high-tech manufacturing powerhouses. China is huge with growing global influence. China’s big problem is its single-party system and insular government.
Taipei, Taiwan, has high-tech hardware competency, financial chops, and cultural prowess. If it weren’t for the constant threat of war with China, it could have been my selection.
Instead, I selected a less obvious city. Atlanta, Georgia.
Why Atlanta?
Nuclear energy will become the most important power source of the future. Solar will be of increasing value, but it can't provide reliable power everywhere or all the time.
Atlanta-based Southern Company. It is the last company in the United States to build a nuclear power plant. Project Vogel was a case study of dysfunction in American nuclear power construction. Southern Company has recent experience with the nuclear regulatory process. Cost-prohibitive experience.
Future nuclear capacity will not be built as a construction project. Nuclear power plants will be manufactured in factories and installed on-site. Community awareness of the advantages of clean nuclear energy will improve. We need a better way to safely (and predictably) add nuclear capacity.
A recent demonstration of its Ward 250, TRISO-fueled, high-temperature gas reactor was impressive. It looks like a pressure vessel. Its core is made from a machined block of graphite. Valar demonstrated it by powering an Nvidia Blackwell board on July 1, 2026. This was a compelling proof of concept.
Seventeen miles from my home is a Southern Company gas-fired power plant called Plant Yates.
The Coweta County, Georgia zoning board recently approved one of the largest hyperscale facilities in the United States after nearly two years of debate. Project Sail is projected to cost $17 billion over the next decade. It will require 1,000MW of power.
I'm comfortable with a nuclear power plant being 17 miles from my home. I like the idea of a hyperscale facility build-out near that site.
I can’t think of a more ideal place to build this facility. It’s in an undeveloped pine forest next to a power plant, near Atlanta. I attended several of the zoning meetings. The county considered the negative aspects and approved the project in a close 3-2 vote. I've driven through the area and the power facility. There may be 200 homes on the perimeter of the site and those people aren't happy about it. There will be legal challenges. The benefits outweigh the concerns.
Plant Yates is a significant gas-fired power plant with a large smokestack. Southern Company has plenty of room for expansion, which is why Project Sail chose the site.
I imagine a future in which a Valar Atomics modular nuclear power plant on that site.
Nuclear engineering know-how. A favorable state environment for nuclear and hyperscale facilities. This seems like a recipe for success.
Atlanta is a global city with an excellent airport (direct flights to more than 170 cities). Georgia is a fantastic business city with a vibrant, dynamic economy.
Atlanta has an increasing but reasonable cost of living. San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, New York, and Denver. All the other contenders are more expensive with less favorable governance. Young people can afford to live in or near Atlanta.
The infrastructure in Georgia supports global trade. It has an excellent seaport in Savannah with easy access to Atlanta. There is good rail service for container shipping from the port. Atlanta also has growing cultural impact from music, movie production, and technology.
Do you think Atlanta is a contender? What city do you think could become a powerhouse and why?