Cities Are Innovative Because They Contain More Ideas to Steal

We all know that cities are great engines of innovation. One reason that's the case, as Emily Badger recently pointed out, is that cities grow "superlinearly": interpersonal connections grow at an greater rate than sheer population, and with that super proximity comes a super exchange of ideas. The secrets of industry, as economist Alfred Marshall once wrote, are truly "in the air."

But innovation is a blanket term that can encompass very different things. Scholars who study the subject typically limit it to the urban proliferation of patents. For sure, the creation of original concepts and products is a sign of innovation. At the same time, it could also reflect a new way of doing business — applied from some other sector, perhaps, or even adapted from a competitor for some other purpose.