Anyone who wants to be president needs to understand these 5 maps

Maps shape how we see the world.

RAW EmbedBut most of the maps hanging on our walls are dangerously incomplete because they emphasize political borders rather than functional connections.

The world has less than 500,000 kilometers of borders.

By comparison, it has 64 million km of highways, 4 million km of railways, 2 million km of pipelines and more than 1 million km of Internet cables ­­all part of a rapidly expanding global infrastructural Matrix.

As such, in the 21st century, we need maps that show connections over divisions, for these reveal not only how we cooperate across borders, but also the valuable corridors of energy, trade and data that we compete over.

Here are 5 of the most important maps for the future. The next president would be wise to study them carefully.

These maps are part of a set designed exclusively for the publication of Parag Khanna's new book, "Connectography: Mapping the Future of Global Civilization."

Here is the map Donald Trump doesn’t seem to understand.

Here is the map Donald Trump doesn’t seem to understand. No matter what walls he may seek to expand along the Mexican border, the truth is that both the Mexican and American populations along the border have risen by 20 percent in the past decade.

Why? Because business is booming between Mexico’s fast-­growing market and American businesses. That’s not all. Even though the XL pipeline failed, there are already dozens of freight rails, pipelines, electricity grids and trade corridors that unite the US, Canada, and Mexico, which has just welcomed huge American investment to modernize its oil industry. American car companies are thriving in Mexican factories, but this is actually creating American jobs producing high­quality auto­parts.

Now fast forward and think about droughts caused by climate change wiping out much of America’s breadbasket region. It turns out that Canada will be the world’s largest food producer as temperatures rise and its permafrost thaws, meaning it will become America’s principal source of both food and freshwater through the massive hydro­canals featured in this map. Americans should embrace the emergence of a genuine North American Union.

Source: Connectography

China is now the top trade partner for twice as many countries as America.

Globalization has catapulted China to superpower status. It is now the top trade partner for twice as many countries (124) as America (56). While many strategists focus on China’s mostly regional military maneuvers, the supply chain complementarities it has built worldwide are the true source of its leverage.

China may have only one aircraft carrier, but it operates by far the world’s largest merchant navy of more than one thousand tankers and shipping vessels that ply these global trade routes. Even as China’s imports slow, it continues to be the fastest growing global investor, boosting its ownership of factories and ports, banks and telecoms along these same axes, so don’t bet on its influence diminishing just because its growth has decelerated. 

What this map also reveals is that even as the US pursues a TPP trade agreement with many Asian countries other than China, it may yet benefit China, which will use its strong linkages into these economies to create joint ventures that more easily access the US market without forcing its own companies to reform the way TPP requires.

Source: Connectography

Does it really make sense for America to be organized as 50 states anymore?

Does it really make sense for America to be organized as 50 states anymore? Countries from China to Italy to France and Great Britain are all reorganizing themselves around viable urban centers, metropolitan regions centered on large and productive cities. America needs to do the same.

This map shows how the US is actually made up of about seven distinct economic regions, each with anchor cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago or New York. Rather than rich states, paying taxes to Washington which then gives meager hand­outs to poor states, America’s economic system ­­and even politics ­­could be rearranged to reflect this reality of mega­urban corridors and their dependent regions. At the same time, America’s strength comes from connecting efficiently across this vast scale, hence the need for high­speed rail networks crisscrossing the continent to form a much more dynamic United City ­States of America.

Source: Connectography