I find it interesting that you used cities as examples of destinations. Cities are shaped by their transportation systems and partially exist because transportation is so hard and expensive. Agglomeration economies seek to reduce distance costs and thus we have the high densities of cities. Cheaper the transportation cost, the less powerful the agglomeration force. When the car was widely adopted cities sprawled out from the street car corridors.

Not only could we choose to live anywhere else we wanted, but companies could also choose to build anywhere. Tech companies no longer need to pay the high land costs of silicon valley and can instead settle in say… Idaho where land is cheaper but still be a short trip to the rest of the industry that has not left… In other words if transportation does become incredibly cheap, fast and personal it could result in the dilution of cities as residents and businesses have less incentive to live their.

I emphasized personal because if the 10 min NY to SF trip is door to door then yes, cities become irrelevant. However if you have to go to a terminal, and there is only one in each city (like airports) but the local transportation remains unchanged (aka cars, buses, subways bikes, etc) then cities might actually be strengthened. However the impact on basic sector economies would be debatable

enjoyed your article, especially the graphics, well done!