Uploaded on 2017-05-30 by Boston (by Nicholas Swedberg)

Boston, the largest city in the New England region of the USA, interacts with numerous stocks and flows. Three stocks and flows that are of great importance are finance, electricity and energy, and information. As a financial hub, Boston interacts with constant flows of finance at regional, national, and global scales. The size of the city, as well as its technological, medical, and research facilities, means that the city consumes high volumes of energy. Consequently, there are numerous flows of energy into the city. Finally, the numerous universities and research centers in Boston generate stocks of knowledge and information that flow between universities and institutes in the city, as well as to other locations across the globe. According to the Global Financial Centres Index, Boston was ranked as the seventh most important global financial center in 2016. The banks and institutes in Boston work with flows of finance, generating stocks of capital within the city. Some capital stays in the city as a stock of finance, while some capital flows within regional and global markets. Boston has a high energy demand in order to support its residents, numerous universities and research centers, medical facilities, and downtown financial center. As discussed in the course, like many cities, Boston has to rely on regional sources for much of its electricity. Boston relies on electricity transported from rural sites throughout New England, and even places as far away as Québec province in Canada. In order to develop stocks of electricity in Boston, the city requires a large and complex energy infrastructure in the surrounding territory in order to supply its demand. Some of the energy flowing into the city is used immediately, while some is turned into a stock for later use. Information is another stock and flow central to Boston. There are numerous universities and research institutes in the city that develop knowledge that is stored as stocks in libraries and databases. This knowledge and information becomes a flow when it is disseminated and shared with other institutes and the public. One such example of this flow of information is the MITx program, part of the same MOOC platform to which this ETHx course belongs. On this platform, information that exists as a stock at MIT can become a flow and reach interested parties the world over. These stocks and flows are constantly evolving. A manner in which the stock and flow of finance could change would be to facilitate strong financial flows into the region. As the territory around Boston plays an important role in providing the city with energy, resources, and workers, it is important to make sure that the flows of finance enrich the region as a whole so that the region and the city strengthen together. With regards to energy, the territorial electricity infrastructure is essential to Boston’s growth and development. The development of efficient and intelligent electrical infrastructures is critical. However, given the strong natural beauty and the conservation efforts in the rural areas throughout the region, it is important that future developments with regards to the electricity infrastructure respect and preserve the surrounding natural resources. Finally, the dissemination of the stocks of knowledge stored in Boston’s universities and institutes, converting these stocks into flows, is an important point for positive future development. Already, we see open course content, public symposia, and the publishing of research journals as methods to turn these knowledge stocks into flows. This conversion of knowledge stocks into flows must continue for the future development of the city and region.