Capital of the World: Challenges to New York's Primacy after World War II

New York City emerged from World War II as the undisputed capital metropolis of the planet, in large because other great cities had either been impoverished, as in London and Paris, or destroyed, as in Berlin, Tokyo, and Vienna. But Gotham's undisputed primacy did not last, as white flight, corporate exodus, rising crime, corruption, and industrial concentration made the city vulnerable to lower costs elsewhere. This paper analyzes and explores the problems which beset the great metrropolis as the rise of the defense industry and the lure of open spaces reduced the attractiveness of density.