Limits to Growth and Attractiveness Principle

The rise and decline of Myspace is a perfect example of the limits to growthLimits to growth archetypeArchetype. Myspace was a social networking site created in 2003. In summer of 2006, Myspace was the most visited site in the United States. By the end of 2008, Myspace reached its peak. Starting in spring of the following year, MyspaceMySpace rapidly lost users. What happens when an R-loop controls the inflowInflow and a B-loop controls the outflowOutflow of some stock was first analyzed in the seminal book The Limits to GrowthLimits to growth. While at first it seems that the R-loopR-loop “wins” against the B-loop, this is not true in the long run. The resistance to growthGrowth gradually builds in the B-loop, eventually not only stopping growth, but accelerating its decline. Besides companies and the world at large, limits to growthGrowth is present in a particularly challenging domain: cities. Jay Forrester was the first to point at a city’s dilemma which he coined attractiveness principleAttractiveness principle. The attractiveness principleAttractiveness principle states that, to any particular population class, all geographical areas tend to become equally unattractive. The leverage point to influence a city’s development requires making the city’s attractiveness so irrelevant for potential immigrants that they refrain from coming. This is the dilemmaDilemma of the attractiveness principle which makes it particularly wicked.