Cities Shape Ambition: Visual Essay Summary

#17 How the Places We Live Quietly Shape Who We Become

Mar 15, 2025

I move around a lot. And every time I settle into a new place, I feel its influence creeping in slowly but surely. But whenever I have brought this up with friends, they never really seemed to understand it. To them, cities are places to visit, probably stay for a month, and check off a list of sunset points, visit some Instagram-worthy hotspots, and maybe explore the food scenes. But that always felt surface-level to me.

I have never been just interested in how a city looked or what it represented. I was interested in how it made me feel and how it shaped the way I thought. The way people in that city talked, what they valued, and the ambitions they took seriously. To this day, Paul Graham’s essay Cities and Ambition is the only piece I have read that truly resonated with me. Here is my breakdown of the key ideas that stuck with me.

1. Every great city sends a message.

Walk down the street in any major city, and you will notice it. If you pay attention, you will understand the message the city is sending you. Some places tell you about wealth. Others radiate intellect. Some places make you understand the importance of power. These messages are not written on billboards. They are embedded in the culture, the conversations, and even the architecture. Cities do not just shape where you live. They shape who you become.

2. Different cities, different ambitions.

Spend enough time in a city, and its priorities become your priorities. Not because you choose them, but because that is the water you are swimming in. The people around you, the standards they set for themselves, and what gets rewarded all seep subconsciously into your thinking.

3. Where you live matters.

Graham points out that historically, cities had even stronger identities. Ancient Athens was not just a city where philosophers happened to live. It was a place where thinking itself was the highest calling. Renaissance Florence did not just attract artists. It was designed to produce them. When cities truly specialise, they create self-reinforcing loops that make their central theme inescapable.

4. Your environment shapes you.

It is easy to assume that ambition is purely internal. But the truth is that your surroundings amplify or diminish it. If you are in a place that does not demand excellence, you will stop striving for it. If you are in a city that makes you feel like you are falling behind, you will push harder. You start to chase what the city rewards. In a place obsessed with finance, you will find yourself caring more about status and wealth. In a city driven by creativity, you will start thinking in projects and portfolios. The air itself is thick with expectations.

5. Choose your city wisely.

We do not always get to choose where we grow up, but as adults, we have a choice. We can deliberately put ourselves in environments that align with our ambitions. If your current city makes you feel stuck, if it rewards the wrong things, or if you find yourself caring about stuff that does not actually matter to you, it might be time to leave. Where you live matters more than you realise.

I could go on, but nothing beats reading the original essay. If any of this resonated with you, check out Paul Graham’s Cities and Ambition. It might just change the way you think about where you live.

Feel free to let me know your thoughts. I respond to everyone.