Cities are Fragile

This idea has been percolating in my mind for some
time now: cities are fragile.

Some internet searching indicates when people talk
about fragility in cities, they are typically talking
about inequality or other such things. That is not
what I'm talking about. I'm talking about literal
fragility: cities break easily.

Much virtual ink has been spilled talking about
the benefits of density and urbanization. As with
any kind of centralization, there is a downside.
Any problem that occurs in a city quickly becomes the
problem of many people. Because the government of large
or even medium sized cities tends to always grow, the
people become dependent on services provided by the city
with no real alternative. When that service inevitably
breaks down, thousands are affected. Rather than one
person's well failing, a water main break leaves hundreds
without water. This is commonplace in my city. Likewise,
my city government recently suspended recycling collection
because too many workers have contracted COVID-19.
Normally, this is a case where contractors could be hired,
but companies don't have the right trucks to work
in our narrow alleys. And why would they? Everyone
relies on the city to pick up recycling. Trash
pickup has also been spotty, leading to an increase
in bugs and rats.

As a programmer, I'm trained to think about failure
modes, and the way cities operate today wouldn't
make it past code review. I'm not advocating for
the breakup of cities, just some thought about
designing them to be robust to failure. This means
decentralizing utilities among other city services.
Food for thought.