The 1975 book

https://www.amazon.com/Dispersing-Population-America-Learn-E...

pointed out that most European countries were concerned that a single large city was bleeding the life from the rest of the country, famously the UK and France. It was a common idea that governments should try to counteract it which starting to be talked about in the (mostly tricentric at the time) US.

Then by the 1980s, Reagan and Thatcher came and we started talking about “globalization” and suddenly it became a matter of London now competes with Paris which competes with New York which competes with Hong Kong and now London can’t compete if has to farm work out to Birmingham and there was a time of about 30 years that we didn’t hear a word about dispersion.

One trouble of it we are seeing now is that votes are distributed evenly even if cultural and economic power are not, so we will come to realize that keeping your republic and keeping your lopsided distribution of cultural and economic power are not compatible — the question is do we lose our republic first?