 According to the author, how should progressive urban cities function differently than states?
It could point us towards new relationships between progressive city dwellers in a world that otherwise seems to be putting the brakes on modernity. "It is often said that great cities survived great empires," says Cristina Ampatzidou, editor-in-chief of the Rotterdam-based online publishing platform Amateur Cities. "So it is not unrealistic to think of cities as discrete entities that compete and collaborate with each other, independently from the states to which they belong." For Germany is not a top-down country with one city unhealthily dominating as with France and Britain (regional economic inequalities have plagued Britain since the painful de-industrialisation of the 1980s, especially in the north).
 They should partner and contend with other cities to form international networks of commerce
 They should expand their operations into more rural areas to bring economic prosperity to those regions  They should maintain an isolationist approach from other cities as well as rural areas within their own nations  They should partner and contend with other cities to form international networks of commerce  They should work establish a symbiotic relationship with their states to ensure longevity of both entities