Marc Canal: How Cities Powered a Century of Plenty

Marc Canal, Senior Fellow at the McKinsey Global Institute and co-author of A Century of Plenty, joins The Century of Cities to explore why cities have been among the greatest engines of human progress. From divided and economically uncertain cities to today's global hubs of talent, innovation, and culture, Marc explains how density, connectivity, and urbanization accelerated prosperity, productivity, and technological advancement on an unprecedented scale. Marc sees cities entering another major transition shaped by AI, electrification, robotics, and demographic change. He argues that the cities that thrive will not simply adopt new technologies, but will be the ones able to experiment, build, attract talent, and adapt quickly.